A history of land mammals in the western hemisphereScott, William Berryman
History
A history of land mammals in the western hemisphere
Scott, William Berryman
Mammals; Mammals, Fossil
Two archaic orders of hoofed mammals were fairly numerous. One, the
†Condylarthra, comprised quite small, five-toed animals, with long
tails and short feet and extremely primitive in structure. A genus
(_†Phenacodus_) of this order was long regarded as being ancestral to
most of the higher orders of ungulates, but this belief has proved to
be untenable. More numerous were the †Amblypoda, one genus of which
(_†Coryphodon_), though persisting into the Wind River, was especially
characteristic of the Wasatch. The †coryphodonts were the largest of
lower Eocene mammals, and some of the species equalled a tapir or
small rhinoceros in length and height, but had heavier limbs; as the
skeleton conclusively shows, these must have been heavy, clumsy and
exceptionally ugly brutes, with formidable tusks, large head, but
relatively more slender body, short and massive limbs and elephantine
feet. In appearance, these strange beasts were not altogether unlike
the Hippopotamus and were perhaps more or less amphibious in habits.
The other family of †Amblypoda, the †uintatheres, have not yet been
registered from the Wasatch, but they will undoubtedly be found there, as
they were unquestionably present at that time.
[Illustration: FIG. 141.—_†Phenacodus primævus_, the best known Wasatch
representative of the †Condylarthra. Restored from a skeleton in the
American Museum of Natural History.]
[Illustration: FIG. 142.—The commonest of Wasatch ungulates, the
†amblypod, _†Coryphodon testis_. Restored from a skeleton in the American
Museum of Natural History.]
All of the preceding groups were of the archaic, non-progressive type
and have long been extinct. With the sole exception of one †creodont
family (†Miacidæ) and perhaps some of the insectivores, they have no
descendants or representatives in the modern world. All of them appear to
have been indigenous and derived from North American ancestors, though
it is possible that a few were immigrants. We now turn to the orders
which were more significant of the future, because they had within them
the potency of a far higher development. These progressive groups were
all immigrants, coming to North America from some region which cannot
yet be positively identified, but most probably was Asia. From the same
region and at a corresponding period of time Europe received many of the
same forms, and so many genera were at that time common to the latter
continent and North America that a broad and easy way of intermigration
must have been open.
One of these immigrant orders, the Rodentia, the most ancient known
members of which were these species from the North American Wasatch,
was represented by the same family (†Ischyromyidæ) and some of the same
genera (_†Paramys_, _†Sciuravus_) as throve also in the Bridger stage.
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