| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77813 | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree. | en_US |
| dc.format | Monograph | |
| dc.format.medium | Electronic Resource | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dc.type | Dissertation | |
| dcterms.abstract | Hyaenodontida is an extinct group of mammals that occupied carnivorous niches in Europe, Asia, North America, and Afro-Arabia throughout the Paleogene. Taxonomically and morphologically diverse across their range, hyaenodontidans shared carnivorous niche space with other, possibly unrelated, carnivorous mammals in Europe, Asia, and North America like Oxyaenida, Mesonychia, and Carnivoramorpha. But, in Afro-Arabia, hyaenodontidans were the only carnivorous mammals from the middle Paleocene until the first carnivorans dispersed to the geographically isolated continent during the late Oligocene. By the end of the Miocene, hyaenodontidans were extinct throughout their once-extensive range. Determining which lineages persisted into the Miocene cannot be closely examined until the relationships among hyaenodontidans are better understood. In this study I construct the largest character-taxon matrix ever used to assess hyaenodontidan relationships, including more OTUs and morphological characters than previous studies, to consider the relationships among purported clades within Hyaenodontida, the number of times specialized carnivory evolved within Hyaenodontida, and the historical biogeography of Hyaenodontida. The development of the character-taxon matrix was aided by new material from the Fayum Depression, Egypt, including five new taxa described here. The character-taxon matrix is analyzed in each chapter with the addition of new Fayum taxa using maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods, including Bayesian “tip-dating” methods that infer evolutionary rates and estimate divergence times between clades based on the known ages of fossil material. Through each of these studies, multiple clades are recovered with varying support, including at least three that contain hypercarnivorous taxa: Hyaenodontinae, Hyainailourinae, and Teratodontinae. A close relationship between Teratodontinae, Hyainailourinae, and Apterodontinae is weakly supported and named Hyainailouroidea. Hyainailouroidea contains most Afro-Arabian hyaenodontidans, though it only variably includes the earliest hyaenodontidans from Afro-Arabia (e.g., Lahimia and Boualitomus). In Chapter 2 the historical biogeography of Hyaenodontida is examined, based on the relationships resolved by each phylogenetic analysis. The biogeography of Hyaenodontida is revisited in Chapter 5 with the complete suite of new taxa described in the course of the study. Each biogeographic method and phylogeny resolves a likely European origin for Hyaenodontida, with multiple Eocene dispersals from Europe to North America, Afro-Arabia, and Asia in the middle to late Paleocene. The ecomorphological diversity of Hyaenodontida in Afro-Arabia is evaluated in Chapter 3 and Chapter 5. Using discriminate function analysis, hyaenodontidan humeri from hyaenodontidan taxa with unknown locomotor behaviors are compared to carnivoran humeri from taxa with known locomotor behaviors. Ultimately this dissertation expands the known taxonomic, morphological, and functional diversity of Hyaenodontida, providing greater context for researchers interested in the evolution of carnivorous mammals, Afro-Arabian ecosystems, and the emergence of Paleogene terrestrial faunas. | |
| dcterms.available | 2017-09-26T16:42:05Z | |
| dcterms.contributor | Seiffert, Erik R | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Krause, David | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | O'Leary, Maureen | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Gunnell, Gregg. | en_US |
| dcterms.creator | Borths, Matthew Robert | |
| dcterms.dateAccepted | 2017-09-26T16:42:05Z | |
| dcterms.dateSubmitted | 2017-09-26T16:42:05Z | |
| dcterms.description | Department of Anatomical Sciences. | en_US |
| dcterms.extent | 596 pg. | en_US |
| dcterms.format | Monograph | |
| dcterms.format | Application/PDF | en_US |
| dcterms.identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77813 | |
| dcterms.identifier | Borths_grad.sunysb_0771E_12619.pdf | en_US |
| dcterms.issued | 2015-05-01 | |
| dcterms.language | en_US | |
| dcterms.provenance | Submitted by Jason Torre (fjason.torre@stonybrook.edu) on 2017-09-26T16:42:05Z
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| dcterms.provenance | Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-26T16:42:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
Borths_grad.sunysb_0771E_12619.pdf: 9805818 bytes, checksum: 99bac91e37bc2d87860ddb9c3553c927 (MD5)
Previous issue date: 2015-05-01 | en |
| dcterms.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dcterms.subject | Africa, Bayesian phylogenetics, Carnivory, Mammals, Paleogene, Systematics | |
| dcterms.subject | Paleontology | |
| dcterms.title | The evolution and biogeography of Hyaenodontida (Placentalia, Mammalia) | |
| dcterms.type | Dissertation | |
