Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:39:02.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The skull of Nothodipoides (Castoridae, Rodentia) and the occurrence of fossorial adaptations in beavers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

William W. Korth
William W. Korth*
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology, 265 Carling Road, Rochester, New York 14610
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The skull and mandible of Nothodipoides Korth are described. There are a number of adaptations present that are shared with other rodents with tooth-digging behavior (procumbent, elongated, and flattened incisors; anteriorly tilted occipital; strongly arched upper diastema). A new tribe of Castoroidinae, Nothodipoidini, is proposed for Nothodipoides and Microdipoides Korth and Stout, based on the fossorial adaptations of the skull, and their generally smaller size. It appears that fossorial adaptations have occurred in castorids at least three times: the Palaeocastorinae (Whitneyan through Arikareean), the primitive beaver Migmacastor (Arikareean), and the Nothodipoidini (late Barstovian through the Clarendonian).

Type
Paleontological Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 81 , Issue 6 , November 2007 , pp. 1533 - 1537
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

Allen, J. A. 1877. Monographs of North American Rodentia. II–VI, IX. Department of the Interior. Report of the United States geological survey of the territories. F. V. Hayden, U.S. Geologist-in-charge. Washington, DC, XI:265–454, 631-939.Google Scholar
Bowdich, T. E. 1821. An Analysis of the Natural Classifications of Mammalia for the Use of Students and Travelers. J. Smith, Paris, 115 pp.Google Scholar
Ellerman, J. R. 1940. The Families and Genera of Living Rodents. Volumes I and II. British Museum. Wheldon and Wesley, Ltd. and Verlag J. Cramer. Germany, 689and 690 pp.Google Scholar
Hemprich, A. 1821. Grundriss Naturgeschichten: 33.Google Scholar
Korth, W. W. 1998. Rodents and lagomorphs (Mammalia) from the late Clarendonian (Miocene) Ash Hollow Formation, Brown County, Nebraska. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 67:299–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korth, W. W. 2001. Comments on the systematics and classification of the beavers (Rodentia, Castoridae). Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 8:279–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korth, W. W. 2002a. Review of the castoroidine beavers (Rodentia, Castoridae) from the Clarendonian (Miocene) of northcentral Nebraska. Paludicola, 4:15–24.Google Scholar
Korth, W. W. 2002b. Topotypic cranial material of the beaver Monosaulax pansus Cope (Rodentia, Castoridae). Paluldicola, 4:1–5.Google Scholar
Korth, W. W. and Rybczynski, N. 2003. A new unusual castorid (Rodentia) from the earliest Miocene of Nebraska. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 23:477–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korth, W. W. and Stout, T. M. 2002. A new diminutive beaver (Rodentia, Castoridae) form the late Clarendonian (Miocene) of South Dakota. Paludicola, 3:134–138.Google Scholar
Roger, O. 1898. Bericht des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Schwaben und Neuberg (a.V.) in Augsburg 33:7.Google Scholar
Rybczynski, N. 2007. Castorid phylogenetics: Implications for the evolution of tree-exploitation by beavers. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 14:1–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, M. F. and Johnson, F. W. 1984. Tertiary stratigraphy and the Frick Collection of fossil vertebrates from north-central Nebraska. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 178:215–368.Google Scholar
Stirton, R. A. 1935. A review of the Tertiary beavers. University of California Publications in the Geological Sciences, 23:391–458.Google Scholar
Wahlert, J. H. 1974. The cranial foramina of protrogomorphous rodents; an anatomical and phylogenetic study. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 146:363–410.Google Scholar
Wahlert, J. H. 1977. Cranial foramina and relationships of Eutypomys (Rodentia, Eutypomyidae). American Museum Novitates, 2626:1–8.Google Scholar
Wahlert, J. H. 1985. Skull morphology and relationships of geomyoid rodents. American Museum Novitates, 2812:1–20.Google Scholar
Wahlert, J. H., and Souza, R. A. 1988. Skull morphology of Gregorymys and relationships of the Entoptychinae (Rodentia, Geomyidae). American Museum Novitates, 2922:1–13.Google Scholar