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Article: New carnivoraforms from the early Eocene of Europe and their bearing on the evolution of the Carnivoraformes

Publication: Palaeontology
Volume: 57
Part: 5
Publication Date: September 2014
Page(s): 963 978
Author(s): <p>Floréal Solé</p>
Addition Information

How to Cite

SOLÉ, F. 2014. New carnivoraforms from the early Eocene of Europe and their bearing on the evolution of the Carnivoraformes. Palaeontology57, 5, 963–978. doi: 10.1111/pala.12097

Author Information

  • Floréal Solé - Département Histoire de la Terre, UMR 7207 CR2P, Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France (email: floreal.sole@naturalsciences.be)
  • Floréal Solé - OD Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium

Publication History

  • Issue published online: 12 SEP 2014
  • Article first published online: 4 MAR 2014
  • Manuscript Accepted: 20 DEC 2013
  • Manuscript Received: 10 OCT 2013

Funded By

Federal Science Policy Office of Belgium

Online Version Hosted By

Wiley Online Library
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Abstract

Two new mammalian carnivoraform species, Uintacyon hookeri sp. nov. and Quercygale smithi sp. nov., are described from the early Eocene of Europe. U. hookeri sp. nov. is recorded in Mutigny (MP8 + 9, PE IV), Avenay (MP8 + 9, PE V), Brasles, Condé-en-Brie (MP8 + 9) and Cuis (MP 10), while Q. smithi sp. nov. comes from Mutigny and Mancy (MP10). Because the two species are not recorded in earliest Eocene localities such as Dormaal and Le Quesnoy (MP7, PE I), it is proposed that they dispersed after the main phase of the Mammal Dispersal Event. U. hookeri sp. nov. supports the existence of terrestrial connections with North America, while Q. smithi sp. nov. implies possible faunal exchange with Asia. This evidence for the evolution of the Carnivoraformes supports: (1) a rapid decrease in their diversity after the Mammal Dispersal Event; and (2) the existence of a mammal turnover event in Europe during the early Eocene. The discovery of a new species of Quercygale, which is generally considered as the closest carnivoraform to the crown-group Carnivora, shows that the genus had already lost the M3 by the early Eocene and supports an important, but very poorly known, radiation of the carnivoraforms at least during the earliest early Eocene.

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