''Hilalia'' is an extinct genus of "

condylarth Condylarthra is an informal group – previously considered an order – of extinct placental mammals, known primarily from the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. They are considered early, primitive ungulates. It is now largely considered to be a waste ...

" that lived during the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

. Fossils of ''Hilalia'' have been found at Uzunçarsidere Formation in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. It was the last surviving genus of Pleuraspidotheriids, which were previously thought to have gone extinct during the Late Palaeocene.

Taxonomy

Four species have been described, differing from each other primarily by size and premolar morphology.

Species

*''Hilalia robusta'' *''Hilalia saribeya'' *''Hilalia selanneae'' *''Hilalia sezerorum''

Paleoecology

During the Eocene, Turkey is believed to have been an island ecosystem, harboring many taxa that had gone extinct on mainland areas earlier. Living alongside ''Hilalia'' were embrithopods and various metatherians, such as the predatory '' Anatoliadelphys''.A. Murat Maga; Robin M. D. Beck (2017). "Skeleton of an unusual, cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey". PLoS ONE. 12 (8): e0181712. .

References

Eocene mammals Eocene mammals of Europe Prehistoric mammal genera {{paleo-mammal-stub