Hulitherium
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''Hulitherium tomasetti'' (meaning "Huli beast", after the
Huli people The Huli are an indigenous Melanesian ethnic group who reside in Hela Province of Papua New Guinea. They speak mainly Huli and Tok Pisin; many also speak some of the surrounding languages, and some also speak English. They are one of the large ...
) is an extinct zygomaturine
marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...
from
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...
during the
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
. The species name honours Berard Tomasetti, a Catholic priest in Papua New Guinea, who brought the
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s to the attention of experts.


Discovery

While excavating a bank to widen the Pureni Mission airstrip in
Wabag Wabag is the capital of Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It is the least populous provincial capital in the country. It is on the Lai River; the Highlands Highway passes through the town, between Mount Hagen and Porgera. Europeans first visited th ...
, New Guinea, to comply with new regulations, the
Huli Huli may refer to: * Huli (dish), a lentil-based dish, also called Sambar, common in South India and Sri Lanka * Huli people, indigenous people in Papua New Guinea * Huli language, language of Huli people * Huli District, district in Xiamen, Fujia ...
workers unearthed fossils in 1967. They reportedly were frightened by their discovery as bones in their culture are associated with
the ancestors ''The Ancestors'' is an album by Tim Berne and which was released on the Italian-based Soul Note label in 1983. It features three lengthy tracks which, typical of Berne, are structured in suite-like sections. The music is performed by the Tim Ber ...
, so the material was somewhat damaged by their inquisitive prodding until they were brought to the attention of Father Bernard Tomasetti, who recognized the significance. Geologists Paul Williams and Michael Plane subsequently headed field expeditions in the area beginning in 1969 in search of more remains. Among the material was the partial skeleton of a
diprotodontid The Diprotodontidae are an extinct family of large herbivorous marsupials, endemic to Australia and New Guinea during the Oligocene through Pleistocene periods from 28.4 million to 40,000 years ago. The family consisted of large quadrupedal te ...
, catalogue number CPC 25718, comprising: a well-preserved
skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
, several detached
teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...
, a fragment of the
mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...
, some
cervical vertebrae In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...
(neck vertebrae), an almost complete
humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...
(in the forelimb), and some fragments from a
femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...
and
tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
(the hindlimb). In 1986, mammalogist
Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, Conservation biology, conservationist, Exploration, explorer, author, Science communication, science communicator, activist and p ...
and Plane described it as ''Hulitherium tomasetti'', the generic name honouring the indigenous Huli people for discovering the creature, and
specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
Father Tomasetti who ensured it was brought to scientific eyes. A log discovered in the same bed as the holotype was carbon dated to roughly 38,600 ± 2,500 years ago. The Pureni site is a marine
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
sequence stretching from the Late Oligocene to the
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
about 850,000 years ago by
Mount Iumu Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
during the Middle Pleistocene. Infrequent volcanism in the area continued from
Mount Rentoul Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
,
Mount Sisa Mt. Sisa is a heavily eroded Pleistocene stratovolcano in Hela, Papua New Guinea. The taller of the mountain's two main peaks is estimated to be high. The northern peak has a communications mast. The epicentre of the 2018 Papua New Guinea earthqu ...
, and Doma Peaks. The most recent deposits dating to the
Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
consist of
peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
,
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, and
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
.


Anatomy

In either half of the upper jaw, ''Hulitherium'' has three incisors (I1–3), no
canines Canine may refer to: Zoology and anatomy * a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae ** ''Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals ** Dog, the domestic dog * Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy People with the surn ...
, one
premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...
(P3), and five molars (M1–5). As for the lower jaw, it is only known that it has a premolar (P3) and five molars (M1–5) on either side. The first incisor was the largest, and the second the smallest. ''Hulitherium'' has an unusually
high-arched palate A high-arched palate (also termed high-vaulted palate) is where the palate is unusually high and narrow. It is usually a congenital developmental feature that results from the failure of the palatal shelves to fuse correctly in development, the sa ...
(the roof of the mouth). The snout is quite narrow and has an almost-oval-shaped cross-section. The
frontal bone The frontal bone is a bone in the human skull. The bone consists of two portions.''Gray's Anatomy'' (1918) These are the vertically oriented squamous part, and the horizontally oriented orbital part, making up the bony part of the forehead, par ...
(forehead) juts up suddenly from the snout, and there is a depression on its midline. The eye sockets are placed fairly low on the skull, about above the P3 socket. There is a weak
sagittal crest A sagittal crest is a ridge of bone running lengthwise along the midline of the top of the skull (at the sagittal suture) of many mammalian and reptilian skulls, among others. The presence of this ridge of bone indicates that there are exceptiona ...
running along the midline of the braincase. The
pterygoid bone The pterygoid is a paired bone forming part of the palate of many vertebrates, behind the palatine bone In anatomy, the palatine bones () are two irregular bones of the facial skeleton in many animal species, located above the uvula in the th ...
s (behind the mouth) were probably enlarged. The
atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...
(the first cervical vertebra, in the neck) is somewhat more reinforced than white might be expected for its skull size, though the occipital condyles (which jut out from the skull to connect to the atlas) are unusually short relative to other marsupials. Another cervical vertebral centrum was preserved, measuring only , which may indicate ''Hulitherium'' had a short neck. The only elements of the forelimb known are a single right
humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...
(missing some of the middle portion) and a poorly preserved distal radial fragment (towards the wrist joint). The proximal humerus (towards the shoulder joint) as 180° of articulating surface (the part of the bone forming the shoulder joint) in the anteroposterior (front-to-back) direction, indicating considerable mobility especially in that direction. Its middle portion is remarkably narrow, only at its smallest laterally and at its smallest anteroposteriorly. The two condyles of the humerus at the elbow joint also have 180° of articular surfacing, much like in
kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s rather than other diprotodontids. The elements of the hindlimb known are a single left
femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...
(missing some of the middle portion), a gracile right
tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
(missing the distal portion towards the ankle joint), and what is probably a
fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...
r fragment. Unusually for diprotodontids, the femoral neck is greatly reduced, so that the femoral head lies directly on top of the
femoral shaft The body of femur (or shaft of femur) is the almost cylindrical, long part of the femur. It is a little broader above than in the center, broadest and somewhat flattened from before backward below. It is slightly arched, so as to be convex in front ...
and sticks out of the femur quite pronouncedly, which may have enhanced the mobility of the hip.


Biology

''Hulitherium'' lived in montane rain forests and was proposed in its initial description to have fed on
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
, as a kind-of
marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...
analogue of the
giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...
. It was one of New Guinea's largest mammals, standing at 1 m (3 ft) tall, close to 2 m (6 ft) long, and with an estimated weight of . Flannery and Plane (1986) suggested that because little had changed since the Late Pleistocene,
humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
may have been the major factor that led to its extinction. The head of the femur lies directly above the shaft, which along with the morphology of the humerus-ulnar joint, suggests that ''Hulitherium'' reared up on its hind legs to feed.
Dental microwear Dental microwear analysis is a method to infer diet and behavior in extinct animals, especially in fossil specimens. Typically, the patterns of pits and scratches on the occlusal or buccal surface of the enamel are compared with patterns observed ...
results support that ''Hulitherium'' was a browser that fed on soft plant material, rather than on fibrous bamboo.


Other relatives

Murray (1992) concluded that ''Hulitherium'' is most closely related to the New Guinean ''
Maokopia ''Maokopia'' is an extinct genus of Zygomaturinae from the Late Pleistocene of Irian Jaya, New Guinea. It is known from a partial skull and was a comparatively small species of diprotodontid, weighing 100 kg. Murray (1992) suggested that it ...
'', and that these two together are most closely related to '' Kolopsis rotundus'' also from New Guinea. Black and Mackness (1999) suggested that the ''Hulitherium'' clade is more closely related to the clade comprising ''
Zygomaturus ''Zygomaturus'' is an extinct genus of giant marsupial belonging to the family Diprotodontidae which inhabited Australia from the Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene. Description It was a large animal, weighing 500 kg (1100 lbs) or ...
'' plus another undescribed genus from
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, than it is to ''
Kolopsis ''Kolopsis'' is an extinct genus of diprotodontid marsupials from Australia and Papua New Guinea. It contains three species, although ''K. rotundus'' may be more closely related to other zygomaturines than to ''Kolopsis''. *†''Kolopsis rotu ...
''.


See also

*''
Silvabestius ''Silvabestius'' is an extinct genus of marsupial dating to the Early Miocene. They were grazing animals about the size of a modern sheep. This animal is known from two skulls found close together which have come to be known as the "Madonna and ...
'' *''
Neohelos ''Neohelos'' is an extinct diprotodontid marsupial, that lived from the early to middle-Miocene. There are four species assigned to this genus, ''Neohelos tirarensis'', the type species, ''N. stirtoni'', ''N. solus'' and ''N. davidridei''. ''N. ...
''


References


Sources

*David Norman. (2001): ''The Big Book Of Dinosaurs''. Pg.133, Welcome Books. *''Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (Life of the Past)'' by Pat Vickers Rich, Thomas Hewitt Rich, Francesco Coffa, and Steven Morton *''Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh'' by Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp *''Classification of Mammals'' by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell *''Extinctions in Near Time: Causes, Contexts, and Consequences (Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology)'' by Ross D.E. MacPhee and Hans-Dieter Sues * https://www.seraphicmass.org/news/berard/panegyric.htm * {{Taxonbar, from=Q138222 Prehistoric vombatiforms Pleistocene marsupials Pleistocene mammals of Australia Marsupials of New Guinea Prehistoric monotypic mammal genera Prehistoric marsupial genera Mammals described in 1986 Taxa named by Tim Flannery