Viverravidae ("ancestors of viverrids") is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Pan-Carnivora, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia.Malcolm C. McKenna, Susan K. Bell: Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level in Columbia University Press, New York (1997), 631 Seiten. They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives (a plesion-group) to extant carnivorans. More recent analysis suggest a placement outside of the clade containing hyaenodonts, oxyaenids, and carnivoraformes.
General characteristics Wang and Tedford propose that they arose in North America 66–60 million years ago, spread to Asia then later to Europe, and were the first carnivoramorphans and possessed the first true pair of carnassial teeth.Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008.) "Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History." New York: Columbia University Press In viverravids, the skull is elongated and the number of molars is reduced to two (M1/m1 and M2/m2 are present and M3/m3 are absent).
Classification and phylogeny Classification Taxonomy retrieved from the Paleobiology DatabasePaleobiology Database. Retrieved with Fossilworks (March 3, 2017) Superfamily: †Viverravoidea Family: †Viverravidae
{| Genus: †Orientictis †Orientictis spanios Genus: †Pappictidops †Pappictidops acies †Pappictidops obtusus †Pappictidops orientalis Genus: †Preonictis †Preonictis youngi Genus: †Variviverra †Variviverra vegetatus Incertae sedis: †Viverravidae sp. [CM 71188 & CM 71189] Subfamily: †Didymictinae Genus: †Bryanictis †Bryanictis microlestes †Bryanictis paulus †Bryanictis terlinguae Genus: †Didymictis †Didymictis altidens †Didymictis dellensis †Didymictis leptomylus †Didymictis protenus †Didymictis proteus †Didymictis vancleveae †Didymictis sp. [Erquelinnes, Hainaut, Belgium] Genus: †Intyrictis †Intyrictis vanvaleni Genus: †Pristinictis †Pristinictis connata Genus: †Protictis (paraphyletic genus) †Protictis agastor †Protictis haydenianus †Protictis minor †Protictis paralus †Protictis simpsoni Subgenus: †Protictoides †Protictis aprophatos Genus: †Raphictis †Raphictis gausion †Raphictis iota †Raphictis machaera †Raphictis nanoptexis Incertae sedis: †"Deltatherium" durini Subfamily: †Ictidopappinae Genus: †Ictidopappus †Ictidopappus mustelinus Subfamily: †Viverravinae Genus: †Simpsonictis †Simpsonictis jaynanneae †Simpsonictis pegus †Simpsonictis tenuis Genus: †Viverravus †Viverravus acutus †Viverravus gracilis †Viverravus lawsoni †Viverravus laytoni †Viverravus lutosus †Viverravus minutus †Viverravus politus †Viverravus rosei †Viverravus sicarius †Viverravus sp. [V11141] †Viverravus sp. [Locality Group 2, Washakie Basin, Wyoming] Genus: †Viverriscus †Viverriscus omnivorus
Phylogeny The phylogenetic relationships of family Viverravidae are shown in the following cladogram:J. J. Flynn and H. Galiano. (1982.) "Phylogeny of Early Tertiary Carnivora, With a Description of a New Species of Protictis From the Middle Eocene of Northwestern Wyoming" American Museum Novitates 2725:1-64P. D. Gingerich and D. A. Winkler. (1985.) "Systematics of Paleocene Viverravidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) in the Bighorn Basin and Clark's Fork Basin, Wyoming." Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 27(4):87-128P. D. Polly. (1997.) "Ancestry and Species Definition in Paleontology: A Stratocladistic Analysis of Paleocene-Eocene Viverravidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Wyoming." Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 30(1):1-53S. Faurby, L. Werdelin, A. Antonelli (2019.) "Dispersal ability predicts evolutionary success among mammalian carnivores" Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE
See also Mammal classification Carnivoramorpha Miacoidea
References