''Promephitis'' is an extinct genus of

mephitid Mephitidae is a family of mammals comprising the skunks and stink badgers. They are noted for the great development of their anal scent glands, which they use to deter predators. Skunks were formerly classified as a subfamily of the Mustelidae ...

, of which several species have been described from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

and early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

Characteristics

The fossil remains of the ''Promephitis'' species, like all members of the skunk family (

Mephitidae Mephitidae is a family of mammals comprising the skunks and stink badgers. They are noted for the great development of their anal scent glands, which they use to deter predators. Skunks were formerly classified as a subfamily of the Mustelida ...

), have a significant extension of

epitympanic recess The epitympanic recess is a hollow located on the superior/roof aspect of the middle ear. Clinical significance This recess is a possible route of spread of infection to the mastoid air cells located in the mastoid process of the temporal bo ...

, a chamber of the

middle ear The middle ear is the portion of the ear medial to the eardrum, and distal to the oval window of the cochlea (of the inner ear). The mammalian middle ear contains three ossicles, which transfer the vibrations of the eardrum into waves in ...

, into the region of

mastoid The mastoid part of the temporal bone is the posterior (back) part of the temporal bone, one of the bones of the skull. Its rough surface gives attachment to various muscles (via tendons) and it has openings for blood vessels. From its borders, t ...

and

squamous Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellul ...

parts of the

temporal bone The temporal bones are situated at the sides and base of the skull, and lateral to the temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex. The temporal bones are overlaid by the sides of the head known as the temples, and house the structures of the ears ...

s. This extension is recognizable as an inflated bulge on the lateral wall of the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, t ...

over the mastoid. In addition, skunks have specific characteristics of the teeth, especially the molars, which distinguish them from other

carnivora Carnivora is a monophyletic order of placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all cat-like and dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are formally referred to as carnivorans, ...

. The genus ''Promephitis'' also shows a distinctive structure of the

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

tooth P4 as well as a very small P2, through which they are distinguishable from other genera.

Distribution and temporal classification

Species of ''Promephitis'' ranged widely in

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

, and fossils have been found both in Europe and in Asia. They are classified in the late

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non- avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

, occurring in the middle to late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs less than 10 million years ago.

Taxonomy

The genus and the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

''Promephitis larteti'' were described in 1861 by

Jean Albert Gaudry Jean Albert Gaudry (16 September 1827 – 27 November 1908) was a French geologist and palaeontologist. He was born at St Germain-en-Laye, and was educated at the Catholic Collège Stanislas de Paris. He was a notable proponent of theistic evolut ...

from a fossil found at

Pikermi Pikermi ( el, Πικέρμι) is a suburb of Athens and a former community of East Attica regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rafina-Pikermi, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

. Since the initial description up to 10 species have been named, but some have since been discarded. Early finds consisted mainly of teeth or fragments of jaw bones. In 2004 Wang & Qiu reported numerous well-preserved skull and skeleton finds from China and described two new species. Currently the following eleven species are recognised: * ''Promephitis larteti'' Gaudry 1861 * ''P. maeotica'' Alexjew 1916 * ''P. alexjewi'' Schlosser 1924 * ''P. malustensis'' Simionescu 1930 * ''P. majori'' Pilgrim 1933 * ''P. hootoni'' Senyurek 1954 * ''P. pristinidens'' Petter 1963 * ''P. brevirostris'' Meladze 1967 * ''P. maxima'' He and Huang 1991 * ''P. qinensis'' Wang and Qiu 2004 * ''P. parvus'' Wang and Qiu 2004 Within the skunks, the species of the genus ''Promephitis'' have been likened to the two extant species of

stink badger Stink badgers, also known as false badgers are a genus (''Mydaus'') of the skunk family of carnivorans, the Mephitidae. They resemble the better-known members of the family Mustelidae also termed 'badgers' (which are themselves a polyphyletic ...

(''Mydaus'') from Southeast Asia. Taken together, ''Promephitis'' and the stink badgers are probably the sister group of the fossil species '' Palaeomephitis steinheimensis'', the name applied to the oldest known species of skunks. Within the recent genera, the stink badgers represent the earliest genus; the clade comprising them with ''Promephitis'' and ''Palaeomephitis'' is considered to be a sister group to all other skunks living today and other fossil forms.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1328566 Mephitidae Prehistoric carnivoran genera