Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-06T01:09:42.426Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The skull of Anchitheriomys and a new subfamily of beavers (Castoridae, Rodentia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

William W. Korth
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology, 928 Whalen Rd., Penfield, NY 14526
Robert J. Emry
Affiliation:
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560

Abstract

A nearly complete skull of Anchitheriomys from the Miocene of Nebraska allows description of the cranial foramina. In skull characters, Anchitheriomys most closely resembles Agnotocastor and Neatocastor among castorids; it retains primitive features that it shares with eutypomyids (position of the posterior palatine foramina, smooth palatal surface, nearly parallel tooth rows, retention of dP3) combined with derived features (elongate rostrum, procumbent incisors) that are shared only with Agnotocastor and Neatocastor. A new subfamily, Agnotocastorinae, is erected for this group of primitive beavers.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Korth, W. W. 1994. The Tertiary Record of Rodents in North America. Plenum Press, New York, 319 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korth, W. W. 1996. A new genus of beaver (Castoridae, Rodentia) from the Arikareean (Oligocene) of Montana and its bearing on castorid phylogeny. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 65:167179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lychev, G. F. 1978. A new species of beaver of the genus Agnotocastor from the early Oligocene of Kazakhstan, [in Russian] Paleontological Journal, 1978:128130.Google Scholar
Matthew, W. D. 1918. Contributions to the Snake Creek fauna. With notes upon the Pleistocene of western Nebraska. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 38:183229.Google Scholar
Roger, O. 1885. Kleine paläontologische Mittellungen. II. Säugethierreste aus der Reischenau. (Zusamthal in Schwaben). Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Schwaben und Neuburg, 28:93118.Google Scholar
Savage, D. E., and Russell, D. E. 1983. Mammalian Paleofaunas of the World. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., London, 432 p.Google Scholar
Stehlin, H. G., and Schaub, S. 1951. Die Trigonodontie der simplicidentaten Nager. Schweizerische Palaeontologische Abhandlungen, 385 p.Google Scholar
Stirton, R. A. 1934. A new species of Amblycastor from the Platybelodon beds, Tung Gur formation, of Mongolia. American Museum Novitates, Number 694, 4 p.Google Scholar
Stirton, R. A. 1935. A review of the Tertiary beavers. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 23:391458.Google Scholar
Voorhies, M. R. 1990. Vertebrate paleontology of the proposed Norden Reservoir area, Brown, Cherry, and Keya Paha counties, Nebraska. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Division of Archaeological Research, Technical Report, 82-09, 731 p.Google Scholar
Wahlert, J. H. 1977. Cranial foramina and relationships of Eutypomys (Rodentia, Eutypomyidae). American Museum Novitates, Number 2626, 8 p.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. W. 1960. Early Miocene rodents and insectivores from northeastern Colorado. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Vertebrata, 7:192.Google Scholar
Wood, A. E. 1937. The mammalian fauna of the White River Oligocene. Part II. Rodentia. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 28:155269.Google Scholar
Xu, X. 1994. Evolution of Chinese Castoridae, p. 7797. In Tomida, Y., Li, C., and Setoguchi, T. (eds.), Rodent and Logomorph Families of Asian Origins and Diversification. National Science Museum Monographs, 8, National Science Museum, Tokyo.Google Scholar