Protitanotherium is an extinct genus of horned brontothere that lived in North America during the Middle Eocene, in the late Uintan land mammal age.
| Protitanotherium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type skull of P. emarginatum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | †Brontotheriidae |
| Subfamily: | †Brontotheriinae |
| Tribe: | †Brontotheriini |
| Subtribe: | †Brontotheriina |
| Genus: | †Protitanotherium Hatcher, 1895 |
| Species: | †P. emarginatum |
| Binomial name | |
| †Protitanotherium emarginatum Hatcher, 1895 | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Research history
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In 1895, John Bell Hatcher described a partial cranial material from the Uinta Formation of Utah, YPM-PU 11242, as the holotype of a new species of brontothere. He tentatively included the taxon as a species of Diplacodon (D. emarginatum), but he noted that "should future discoveries show that there are hornless forms with same dental characters as Diplacodon", it would require a new genus name Protitanotherium.[3]
The genus name is a portmanteau of the Latin word meaning "before" (pro) and Ancient Greek words meaning "giant" (titan) and "beast" (therion).[4] It was later accepted for use by other authors including Osborn (1908) who named a putative second species P. superbum (AMNH 2501) from the same locality, but this species was later synonymized with P. emarginatum.[2]
It was once claimed that Sthenodectes australis (TMM 41723-3) described by Wilson (1977) from the Pruett Formation of Texas and some skull specimens from other formations (Uinta Formation, Wiggins Formation and Devil's Graveyard Formation) might represent a single taxon similar to P. emarginatum,[5] but Mihlbachler suggested that Sthenodectes australis is synonymous with P. emarginatum and redescribed the Wiggins Formation specimen (AMNH 117163), previously referred to as cf. Protitanotherium, as the holotype of Diplacodon gigan.[2][6] Fragmentary brontothere specimens from the middle to late Eocene strata of North Korea were named as P. koreanicum by Takai (1939), but this species is now considered as a nomen dubium.[2]
References
edit- ↑ Hodnett, John-Paul M.; Welsh, Edward T.; Santucci, Vincent L.; Tweet, Justin S. (2022). "A Middle Eocene brontothere (Mammalia; Perissodactyla; Brontotheriidae) from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming". FOSSIL RECORD 8. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. p. 211.
- 1 2 3 4 Mihlbachler, Matthew C. (June 2008). "Species Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Biogeography of the Brontotheriidae (Mammalia: Perissodactyla)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 2008 (311): 1–475. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2008)501[1:STPABO]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0003-0090.
- ↑ Hatcher, J.B. (1895). "On a new species of Diplacodon, with a discussion of the relations of that genus to Telmatotherium". American Naturalist. 29: 1084–1090.
- ↑ "Glossary. American Museum of Natural History". Archived from the original on 20 November 2021.
- ↑ Mader, B.J. (2008). "A species level revision of Bridgerian and Uintan brontotheres (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) exclusive of Palaeosyops". Zootaxa. 1837 (30): 1–85. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1837.1.1.
- ↑ Mihlbachler, Matthew C. (2011). "A new uintan horned brontothere from Wyoming and the evolution of canine size and sexual dimorphism in the Brontotheriidae (Perissodactyla: Mammalia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (1): 202–214. Bibcode:2011JVPal..31..202M. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.539653. S2CID 84879982.
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