User:PrimalMustelid/sandbox

PrimalMustelid/sandbox Temporal range:
Plagiolophus skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	†Palaeotheriidae
Genus:	†Plagiolophus Pomel, 1847
Type species
†Palaeotherium minus (= †Plagiolophus minor) Cuvier, 1804
Other species
†P. ovinus Aymard, 1846 †P. annectens Owen, 1848 †P. fraasi von Meyer, 1852 †P. javali Filhol, 1877 †P. lugdunensis Depéret & Carrière, 1901 †P. cartailhaci Stehlin, 1904 †P. cartieri Stehlin, 1904 †P. oweni Depéret, 1917 †P. curtisi Hooker, 1986 †P. major Brunet & Jehenne, 1989 †P. ministri Brunet & Jehenne, 1989 †P. casasecaensis Cuesta, 1994 †P. mazateronensis Cuesta, 1994 †P. huerzeleri Remy, 2000 †P. ringeadei Remy, 2004 †P. mamertensis Remy, 2004

Research history

Early history

1804 sketch of a skeleton of "Palaeotherium minus" (= Plagiolophus minor) from the commune of Pantin (left) and an 1812 drawn skeletal reconstruction based on the Pantin skeleton and additional fossil material by Georges Cuvier (right)

In 1804, the French naturalist Georges Cuvier, having established the genus Palaeotherium and some of its species (P. medium and P. magnum), recognized a third species P. minus based on some postcranial fossils from the gypsum quarries of the outskirts of Paris (known as the Paris Basin), although he did not elaborate further on them. In a later journal of the same year, he described a nearly completely skeleton from the quarries of the French commune of Pantin, originally found by the French naturalist Auguste Nicholas de Saint-Genis. According to Cuvier, the quarry workers previously thought the skeleton to be of a ram, and it was presented as such in public newspapers. The French prefect Nicolas Frochot later acquired it and brought it to the National Museum of Natural History, France, where Cuvier was then able to observe that it must have been a skeleton of a Palaeotherium species. He noted that the majority of the fossil bones were detached from others and/or damaged but that postcranial fossils such as scapulae, humeri, femurs, vertebrae, and ribs were found. The naturalist also provided a figure of the skeleton within the journal.

In 1812, Cuvier published published his drawing of a skeletal reconstruction of P. minus based on known fossil remains of the species including the mostly complete skeleton. He also suggested theoretical lifestyles of several Palaeotherium species. In particular, he suggested that P. minus resembled a tapir, was smaller than a sheep, and was cursorial based on the slender morphologies of its leg bones. Such a behaviour and small size would have differed from other species of Palaeotherium, several of which according to Cuvier had stockier limb bone builds. He also identified that P. medium, P. magnum, P. minus, P. crassum, and P. curtum were all tridactyl, or three-toed.