Xiphodon
Extinct genus of endemic Palaeogene European artiodactyls / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Xiphodon is the type genus of the extinct Palaeogene artiodactyl family Xiphodontidae. It, like other xiphodonts, was endemic to western Europe and lived from the middle Eocene up to the earliest Oligocene. Fossils from Montmartre in Paris, France that belonged to X. gracilis were first described by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1804. Although he designated the species to Anoplotherium, he recognized that it differed from A. commune by its dentition and limb bones, later designating it to its own subgenus in 1822. Xiphodon was promoted to genus rank by other naturalists in later decades. It is today defined by the type species X. gracilis and two other species X. castrensis and X. intermedium.
Xiphodon | |
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Xiphodon gracilis skull, National Museum of Natural History, France | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | †Xiphodontidae |
Genus: | †Xiphodon Cuvier, 1822 |
Type species | |
†Xiphodon gracilis Cuvier, 1822 | |
Other species | |
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Synonyms | |
Synonyms of X. gracilis
Dubious species
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Literally meaning "sword tooth" in Ancient Greek, Xiphodon had specialized bladelike selenodont dentition, with its brachyodont (low-crowned) incisors, canines, and premolars having sharp edges for cutting through higher vegetation like leaves and shrubs. It also retained primitive forms of molars compared to its relative Dichodon, indicating different dietary specializations. Xiphodon is also the only xiphodontid to be represented by known postcranial fossils. Its skull morphology combined with slender and elongated limbs might suggest similar behaviours to North American Palaeogene camelids such as Poebrotherium, including cursoriality (running adaptations). However, the full extent of its behaviour and evolutionary relationships remain uncertain, its resemblances to camelids probably being an instance of convergent evolution.
It lived in western Europe back when it was an archipelago that was isolated from the rest of Eurasia, meaning that it lived in an environment with various other faunas that also evolved with strong levels of endemism. The xiphodont made its first appearance in the middle Eocene shortly before a shift towards drier but still subhumid conditions, which led to increasingly abrasive plants. Species of Xiphodon were relatively small with the second-appearing species X. intermedium having an estimated weight of 4.6 kg (10 lb). X. gracilis was the latest-occurring and largest species within the genus in an evolutionary size increase trend.
It and other xiphodont genera went extinct by the Grande Coupure extinction/faunal turnover event, coinciding with shifts towards further glaciation and seasonality plus dispersals of Asian immigrant faunas into western Europe. The causes of its extinction are attributed to negative interactions with immigrant faunas (resource competition, predation), environmental turnover from climate change, or some combination of the two.