As suspected by prior studies, Creodonta is now polyphyletic in the LRT
The differences between Creodonta and Carnivora
have been murky. All known creodonts are extinct, which restricts study to just their fossils and their closest living relatives.
According to Wikipedia – Creodonta
“Originally thought to be a single group of animals ancestral to the modern Carnivora, this order is now usually considered a polyphyletic assemblage of two different groups, the oxyaenids and the hyaenodontids, not a natural group.”
That gives us definition and direction to look where Oxyaena (Fig 1) and Hyaenodon (Fig 2) nest in the LRT.
Figure 1. Gulo, he wolverine, is now basal to Oxyaena and several creodonts in the LRT.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/australohyaena2024.jpg?w=82″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/australohyaena2024.jpg?w=280″ class=”size-full wp-image-90027″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/australohyaena2024.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Gulo, he wolverine, is now basal to Oxyaena and several creodonts in the LRT. ” width=”584″ height=”2132″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/australohyaena2024.jpg?w=584&h=2132 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/australohyaena2024.jpg?w=41&h=150 41w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/australohyaena2024.jpg?w=82&h=300 82w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/australohyaena2024.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
According to Wikipedia – Creodonta
“Creodonta” was coined by Edward Drinker Cope in 1875. Cope included the oxyaenids and the viverravid Didymictis but omitted the Hyaenodontidae. In 1880 he expanded the term to include families Miacidae (including Viverravidae), Arctocyonidae, Leptictidae (now Pseudorhyncocyonidae), Oxyaenidae, Ambloctonidae and Mesonychidae. Cope originally placed creodonts within the Insectivora in 1884, however, he regarded them as a basal group from which both carnivorans and insectivorans arose. Hyaenodontidae was not included among the creodonts until 1909.”
“William Diller Matthew regarded Creodonta as a suborder of order Carnivora, divided in three groups.”
Here
in the large reptile tree, meter long Hyaenodon (Fig 2) nests with Callistoe and Sinonyx in the sister clade to the Carnivora, which could therefore be considered the first clade within the Carnivora, close to civets and cats.
Your choice, be ye a lumper or a splitter.
Figure 2. Hyaenodon does not nest with Oxyaena in the LRT, but with Callistoe and Sinonyx among the sister clade to the Carnivora, or the first clade of the Carnivora. Your choice.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hyaenodon588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hyaenodon588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-90030″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hyaenodon588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Hyaenodon does not nest with Oxyaena in the LRT, but with Callistoe and Sinonyx among the sister clade to the Carnivora, or the first clade of the Carnivora. Your choice.” width=”584″ height=”469″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hyaenodon588.jpg?w=584&h=469 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hyaenodon588.jpg?w=150&h=120 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hyaenodon588.jpg?w=300&h=241 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/hyaenodon588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
By contrast,
Oxyaena (Fig 1) nests firmly within the other end of the Carnivora, following Gulo, the extant wolverine, and bears, like Ursus, not far from sabertooths which controversially begat canids in the LRT.
For now.
The mammal subset of the LRT
remains fragile due to the high number of convergent taxa. In any case, this appears to be a real solution to the creodont problem, a solution not proposed by earlier workers. This also moves all hyaenodontids and oxyaenids into the Placentalia.
References
Cope ED 1875. On the Supposed Carnivora of the Eocene of the Rocky Mountains. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 27: 444–449.
Cope ED 1884. The Vertebrata of the Tertiary Formations of the West. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Matthew WD 1909. The Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger Basin, middle Eocene. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 9:289-567
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/11/26/as-suspected-by-prior-studies-creodonta-is-now-polyphyletic-in-the-lrt/
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