User:Seamink/Palaeonictis

'Palaeonictis' Palaeonictis is an extinct hyena-like Creodont predator belonging to the family Oxyaenidae, existing from the late Paleocene to the early Eocene times. In life, it would have resembled a large modern wolverine. This oxyaenid had heavy jaws and blunt robust teeth more suited for crushing bones, than slicing meat. This meant that the plantigrade Palaeonictis was at least a part time scavenger. The biggest species, Palaeonictis peloria(meaning "terrible ancient weasel") is known from an incomplete jaw that must have measured over 20 cm. in length. This animal was the largest carnivore in its ecosystem. 55 million years ago, P. Occidentalis(the size of a bear) evolved into the smaller P. Wingi( the size of a coyote) within 200,000 years in the early Eocene due to global warming(Paleoclimatology). By the end of the middle Eocene(38 million years ago), Palaeonictis disappeared from North America, and by the late Eocene(34 M.Y.A.)the last species of P. Gigantea had vanished from Europe. In fact, the entire Oxyaenidae family had become extinct world wide( although its sister group Hyaenodontidae continued to thrive for awhile). This was due to increased competition from Miacids and Nimravids belonging to the more successful Order Carnivora, which eventually replaced Creodonta in the later Tertiary as the worlds top predators. References == <1. Journal of Mammalian Evolution: "A New Small Bodied Species of Palaeonictis(Creodonta, Oxyaenidae) from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum."(2009) By Stephen Chester, Jonathan Bloch, Ross Secord, Doug Bayler. 2. The Book of Life(2001) Stephen Jay Gould, John Barber, Peter Andrews. Norton, W.W.& Company,Inc. ISBN 0393321568