Anthracotheriidae; dentition; Early Miocene; morphology; skull; Agricultural and Biological Sciences (all); General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Abstract :
[en] The University of Liège Geology Department curates a relatively complete cranium and mandible of the Miocene anthracothere Brachyodus onoideus, lacking only the premaxillae, parts of the maxillae and pterygoids. Although comparable in dimensions, the fossils probably represent two individuals. The specimens resolve several issues that have plagued interpretations of the genus regarding the resting posture of the head on the vertebral column, the hafting of the neurocranium onto the splanchnocranium and the lower dental formula. The provenance is unknown, but sandy sediment adhering to the skull and the pale, mottled colouration of the bones and teeth suggest that it may have been collected from the Sables de l’Orléanais, France. The dimensions and morphology of the mandible accord with the holotype of Brachyodus onoideus from Neuville-aux-Bois in the same sedimentary deposits; based on this similarity and metric comparisons of upper and lower dentition, we assign the Liège specimen to this species. The life appearance and behaviour of Brachyodus are discussed, with a preliminary description, a high-resolution 3D rendering, and stereo images of the specimens provided to make them available to the scientific community.
Pickford, Martin; Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie - Paris (CR2P) Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Maclaren, James ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géologie > Evolution and diversity dynamics lab ; UA - Universiteit Antwerpen [BE] > Department of Biology
Language :
English
Title :
The most complete skull of Brachyodus onoideus (Anthracotheriidae), Liège University collections
Publication date :
2022
Journal title :
Historical Biology
ISSN :
0891-2963
eISSN :
1029-2381
Publisher :
Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Special issue title :
A festschrift in honour of Professor Jorge Morales
The present work is in honour of Dr Jorge Morales, whose contributions to palaeontology span a wide range of topics, from biochronology, palaeobiogeography, intercontinental faunal dispersals, systematics and phylogeny to functional anatomy and palaeoecology. His experience in Spanish and African palaeontology has formed the basis for numerous contributions on taxa as diverse as carnivores, creodonts, giraffoids, camelids, bovids and tragulids and it is a fitting tribute to him to provide new information on this much misunderstood clade of ungulates. Although Spain has not yielded many Miocene anthracotheres, Jorge Morales has coauthored publications on Brachyodus from Loranca (MN 2) which constitutes the oldest known record of the genus from Europe. This occurrence is older than any of the records from the French Faluns (Brachyodus intermedius, base to middle of MN 3; Brachyodus onoideus, middle of MN 3 to top of MN 4) Thanks to Valentin Fischer for providing access to the fossils under his care; to Luke Holbrook, Ken Rose and Ellen Miller for early discussion on specimen identification; and to Julien Denayer, Narimane Chatar, Cyrille Prestianni and Rebecca Bennion for help and encouragement during the study. We thank Philippa Brewer, Chris Dean, Roula Pappa and Leyla de Sousa (NHMUK) for providing access to fossils in their care. Finally, we thank David Alba and an anonymous referee for comments that improved the presentation of the paper. The guest editors are thanked for organising this festschrift and for encouragement to submit an article to it.
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