''Microbunodon'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

artiodactyl Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other t ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s in the family

Anthracotheriidae Anthracotheriidae is a paraphyletic family of extinct, hippopotamus-like artiodactyl ungulates related to hippopotamuses and whales. The oldest genus, '' Elomeryx'', first appeared during the middle Eocene in Asia. They thrived in Africa and Eura ...

. It lived from the late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

to the early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Description

''Microbunodon'', unlike most of its close relatives, was small in size and with a slight build. Its weight did not exceed 20–25 kilograms and the

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

was about 20–30 centimeters long. ''Microbunodon'' was slim with long legs and a short snout with long prominent

canine teeth In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. In the context of the upper jaw, they are also known as '' fangs''. They can appear more fl ...

in males, similar to a

saber-toothed cat Machairodontinae (from Ancient Greek μάχαιρα '' machaira,'' a type of Ancient Greek sword and ὀδόντος ''odontos'' meaning tooth) is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the cat family Felidae, representing the earliest ...

. It was characterized by a fused mandibular

symphysis A symphysis (, : symphyses) is a fibrocartilaginous fusion between two bones. It is a type of cartilaginous joint, specifically a secondary cartilaginous joint. # A symphysis is an amphiarthrosis, a slightly movable joint. # A growing together o ...

, with a ventral ridge-like prominence.

Classification

The genus ''Microbunodon'' was established by Deperet in 1908 to accommodate a species previously described by

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

in 1822 and attributed to the genus ''

Anthracotherium ''Anthracotherium'', from Ancient Greek ἄνθραξ (''ánthrax''), meaning "coal", and θηρίον (''theríon''), meaning "beast", is an extinct genus of artiodactyls characterized by having 44 teeth, with five semi-crescentic cusps on the ...

'', as ''A. minimum'', from the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

superior of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''Microbunodon minimum'', lived in the Oligocene in Europe and is known in France,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Other species attributed to this genus are ''M. silistrensis'' (early and middle Miocene,

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

and

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

) and ''M. milaensis'' (late Miocene and early Pliocene, Indian subcontinent and Indochina). Other fossils attributed to this genus come from the upper Eocene of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and testify to an exceptional longevity of this evolutionary line.T. Tsubamoto. 2010. Recognition of Microbunodon (Artiodactyla, Anthracotheriidae) from the Eocene of China. ''Paleontological Research'' 14(2):161-165 ''Microbunodon'' is an anthracothere, a group of artiodactyls usually considered similar to

hippopotami The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahara ...

. ''Microbunodon'' represents an aberrant morphology for this family, whose members usually have large, heavy shapes. ''Microbunodon'' and '' Anthracokeryx'' have been placed in a separate subfamily,

Microbunodontinae The microbunodontines were an extinct subfamily of anthracotheres that were predominately a Paleogene group of Eurasian artiodactyls. The group died out at the end of the Late Miocene. It comprised the genera '' Anthracokeryx'', '' Geniokeryx'', ...

.Lihoreau F, Ducrocq S. 2007. Family Anthracotheriidae. In: Prothero DR, Foss SE, editors. ''The Evolution of Artiodactyls''. Baltimore(MD): The Johns Hopkins University Press; p. 89–105.

Paleobiology

Analysis of dental wear of ''Microbunodon'' reveals that it probably had a diet based on leaves and fruit.Systematique et paleoecologie des Anthracotheriidae (Artiodactyla; Suiformes) du Mio-Pliocene de l'Ancien Monde: Implications paleobiogeographiques. Unpublished These d'Universite, Universite de Poitiers It likely lived in forest environments and had a lifestyle quite similar to that of

musk deer Musk deer can refer to any one, or all eight, of the species that make up ''Moschus'', the only extant genus of the family (biology), family Moschidae. Despite being commonly called deer, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, b ...

and

mouse deer Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are small, even-toed ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, and are the only living members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10 extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also are k ...

. It is likely that it originated in Asia in the Eocene. At the end of the Oligocene, ''Microbunodon'' migrated to Europe and spread rapidly, along with other artiodactyls. This event is known as the ''Microbunodon'' event, due to the significant impact that the invasion of these animals had on European fauna of the period.Scherler L, Mennecart B, Hiard F, Becker D (2013) Evolution of terrestrial hoofed-mammals during the Oligocene-Miocene transition in Europe.

Swiss Journal of Geosciences Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

106: 349–369. Mennecart B (2015) The European Ruminants during the “Microbunodon Event” (MP28, Latest Oligocene): Impact of Climate Changes and Faunal Event on the Ruminant Evolution. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0116830.

References

*Hünermann, K. A. von, 1967: Der Schädel von ''Microbunodon minus'' (Cuvier) (Artiodactyla, Anthracotheriidae) aus dem Chatt (Oligozän). ''Eclogue Geologicue Helvetica'', vol. 60, p. 661–668. *Lihoreau, F., Blondel, C., Barry, J. and Brunet, M., 2004: A new species of the genus ''Microbunodon'' (Anthracotheriidae, Artiodactyla) from the Miocene of Pakistan: genus revision, phylogenetic relationships and palaeobiogeography. Zoologica Scripta, vol. 33, p. 97–115. *Takehisa Tsubamoto, Thaung-Htike, Zin-Maung-Maung-Thein, Naoko Egi, Yuichiro Nishioka, Maung-Maung, and Masanaru Takai. (2012) New Data on the Neogene Anthracotheres (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from Central Myanmar. ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 32:4, 956-964. {{Taxonbar, from=Q20721950 Anthracotheres Oligocene Artiodactyla Eocene Artiodactyla Eocene genus first appearances Chattian genus extinctions Eocene mammals of Asia Oligocene mammals of Asia Oligocene mammals of Europe Prehistoric Artiodactyla genera