Hyaenodontinae

Mounted skeleton of Hyaenodon horridus in the Royal Ontario Museum, photographed by Daderot.

Belongs within: Creodonta.

The Hyaenodontinae are a group of carnivorous, often cursorial mammals known from the Eocene to the Oligocene. They varied widely in size, with the smallest species little larger than a rat whereas Megistotherium osteothlastes of the Miocene of Libya was among the largest land carnivores known.

Characters (from Polly 1996): Hyaenodontids without metaconid, with narrow distal humerus, with nuchal crest extending to the mastoid process, with robust bridge over the foramen stylomastoid primitivum, without bony ridge dividing the posterior petrosal sinus from the foramen stylomastoid primitivum, with inflated posterior petrosal sinus, and with horse-shoe shaped subarcuate fossa.

<==Hyaenodontinae [Hyaenodontini]
    |--Leakitherium Savage 1965 [incl. Isohyaenodon Savage 1965] V67
    |    `--L. hiwegi S78
    |--Megalopterodon Dashzeveg 1964 S78, V67
    |    `--M. mongoliensis [=Pterodon mongoliensis] V67
    |--Ischnognathus Stovall 1948 V66
    |--Hemipsalodon Cope 1885 V66
    |    |--H. cooki V67
    |    `--H. grandis [=Pterodon grandis] V67
    |--Megistotherium Savage 1973 S78, D07
    |    `--M. osteothlastes S78
    |--Hyaenodon Laizer & Parieu 1838 (see below for synonymy) V66
    |    |--*H. leptorhynchus OB13
    |    |--H. andrewsi S78 [=Hyaenodon (Isohyaenodon) andrewsi V67]
    |    |--H. brachycephalus Osborn 1909 S68
    |    |--H. brevirostris V91
    |    |--H. crucians D07
    |    |--H. cruentus D07
    |    |--H. gigas D07
    |    |--H. horridus D07
    |    |--H. matthewi S78
    |    |--H. pilgrimi S78
    |    `--H. schlosseri V65
    |--Tritemnodon Matthew 1906 V67
    |    |--*T. agilis (Marsh 1872) [incl. Stypolophus brevicalcaratus Cope 1872, Sinopa gracilis Wortman 1902] V65
    |    |--T. hians (Cope 1877) V65
    |    |--T. strenua (Cope 1875) V65
    |    `--T. whitiae (Cope 1882) V65
    |--Prodissopsalis Matthes 1952 [incl. Imperatoria Matthes 1952 non de Gregorio 1930] V67
    |    |--*P. eocaenicus Matthes 1952 (see below for synonymy) V65
    |    |--P. phonax Van Valen 1965 V65
    |    `--P. theriodis Van Valen 1965 [=Propterodon theriodis] V65
    |--Cynohyaenodon Filhol 1873 [incl. Pseudosinopa Depéret 1917] V67
    |    |--*C. cayluxi (Filhol 1873) V65
    |    |--C. leenhardti Martin 1906 V65
    |    |--C. ruetimeyeri (Depéret 1917) [=*Pseudosinopa rutimeyeri] V65
    |    `--C. trux Van Valen 1965 V65
    |--Paracynohyaenodon Martin 1906 V67
    |    `--*P. schlosseri Martin 1906 V65
    |--Metasinopa Osborn 1909 V67
    |    |--*M. fraasi Osborn 1909 V65
    |    |--M. aethiopica (Andrews 1906) [=Sinopa aethiopica] V66
    |    `--M. napaki S78 [=Paracynohyaenodon napaki V67]
    |--Dissopsalis Pilgrim 1910 V67
    |    |--*D. carnifex Pilgrim 1910 V65
    |    |--D. pyroclasticus S78
    |    `--D. ruber Pilgrim 1910 V65
    |--Quercitherium Filhol 1880 V67
    |    `--*Q. tenebrosum Filhol 1880 V65
    `--Cynodon helveticus Rütimeyer 1862 V65

Hyaenodon Laizer & Parieu 1838 [incl. Neohyaenodon Thorpe 1922, Protohyaenodon Stock 1933, Pseudopterodon Schlosser 1887, Taxotherium Blainville 1841] V66
*Prodissopsalis eocaenicus Matthes 1952 [incl. Imperatoria gallwitzi Matthes 1952, I. hageni Matthes 1952, Geiselotherium robustum Matthes 1952] V65

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[OB13] O'Leary, M. A., J. I. Bloch, J. J. Flynn, T. J. Gaudin, A. Giallombardo, N. P. Giannini, S. L. Goldberg, B. P. Kraatz, Z.-X. Luo, J. Meng, X. Ni, M. J. Novacek, F. A. Perini, Z. S. Randall, G. W. Rougier, E. J. Sargis, M. T. Silcox, N. B. Simmons, M. Spaulding, P. M. Velazco, M. Weksler, J. R. Wible & A. L. Cirranello. 2013. The placental mammal ancestor and the post-K-Pg radiation of placentals. Science 339: 662–667.

[S78] Savage, R. J. G. 1978. Carnivora. In: Maglio, V. J., & H. B. S. Cooke (eds) Evolution of African Mammals pp. 249–267. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[S68] Simons, E. L. 1968. African Oligocene mammals: introduction, history of study, and faunal succession. Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Bulletin 28: 1–21.

[V91] Valkenburgh, B. van. 1991. Iterative evolution of hypercarnivory in canids (Mammalia: Carnivora): evolutionary interactions among sympatric predators. Paleobiology 17 (4): 340–362.

[V65] Van Valen, L. 1965. Some European Proviverrini (Mammalia, Deltatheridia). Palaeontology 8 (4): 638–665.

[V66] Van Valen, L. 1966. Deltatheridia, a new order of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 132 (1): 1–126.

[V67] Van Valen, L. 1967. New Paleocene insectivores and insectivore classification. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 135 (5): 217–284.

Last updated: 13 August 2018.