Hulitherium

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Huilatherium.

Hulitherium
Temporal range: 0.0411–0.0361 
Ma
↓
 Late Pleistocene
Side (a) and underside (b) views of the Hulitherium skull
Hulitherium restoration
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: †Diprotodontidae
Subfamily: †
Zygomaturinae
Genus: †Hulitherium
Flannery & Plane, 1986
Species:
†H. tomasetti
Binomial name
†Hulitherium tomasetti
Flannery & Plane, 1986

Hulitherium tomasetti (meaning "Huli beast", after the

zygomaturine marsupial that lived in New Guinea during the Pleistocene. The species name honours Berard Tomasetti, a Catholic priest in Papua New Guinea, who brought the fossils to the attention of experts.[1][2]

Discovery

Hulitherium is located in New Guinea
Hulitherium
class=notpageimage|
Location of Hulitherium type locality

While excavating a bank to widen the Pureni Mission airstrip in Wabag, New Guinea, to comply with new regulations, the Huli workers unearthed fossils in 1967. They reportedly were frightened by their discovery as bones in their culture are associated with the ancestors, so the material was somewhat damaged by their inquisitive prodding until they were brought to the attention of Father Bernard Tomasetti, who recognized the significance. Geologists Paul Williams and Michael Plane subsequently headed field expeditions in the area beginning in 1969 in search of more remains.[2]

Among the material was the partial skeleton of a

generic name honouring the indigenous Huli people for discovering the creature, and specific name Father Tomasetti who ensured it was brought to scientific eyes.[2]

A log discovered in the same

Middle Pleistocene. Infrequent volcanism in the area continued from Mount Rentoul, Mount Sisa, and Doma Peaks. The most recent deposits dating to the Holocene consist of peat, clay, and ash.[2]

Anatomy

In either half of the upper jaw, Hulitherium has three incisors (I1–3), no canines, one premolar (P3), and five molars (M1–5). As for the lower jaw, it is only known that it has a premolar (P3) and five molars (M1–5) on either side. The first incisor was the largest, and the second the smallest. Hulitherium has an unusually high-arched palate (the roof of the mouth).[2] The snout is quite narrow and has an almost-oval-shaped cross-section. The frontal bone (forehead) juts up suddenly from the snout, and there is a depression on its midline. The eye sockets are placed fairly low on the skull, about 3 cm (1.2 in) above the P3 socket. There is a weak sagittal crest running along the midline of the braincase. The pterygoid bones (behind the mouth) were probably enlarged.[2]

The

occipital condyles (which jut out from the skull to connect to the atlas) are unusually short relative to other marsupials. Another cervical vertebral centrum was preserved, measuring only 16 mm (0.63 in), which may indicate Hulitherium had a short neck.[2]

Hulitherium proximal femur (a and b) and tibia (c and d)

The only elements of the forelimb known are a single right humerus (missing some of the middle portion) and a poorly preserved distal radial fragment (towards the wrist joint). The proximal humerus (towards the shoulder joint) as 180° of articulating surface (the part of the bone forming the shoulder joint) in the anteroposterior (front-to-back) direction, indicating considerable mobility especially in that direction. Its middle portion is remarkably narrow, only 32 mm (1.3 in) at its smallest laterally and 23 mm (0.91 in) at its smallest anteroposteriorly. The two condyles of the humerus at the elbow joint also have 180° of articular surfacing, much like in kangaroos rather than other diprotodontids.[2]

The elements of the hindlimb known are a single left

femoral shaft and sticks out of the femur quite pronouncedly, which may have enhanced the mobility of the hip.[2]

Biology

Hulitherium lived in

humans may have been the major factor that led to its extinction.[1][3][4] The head of the femur lies directly above the shaft, which along with the morphology of the humerus-ulnar joint, suggests that Hulitherium reared up on its hind legs to feed. Dental microwear results support that Hulitherium was a browser that fed on soft plant material, rather than on fibrous bamboo.[5]

Other relatives

Murray (1992) concluded that Hulitherium is most closely related to the New Guinean Maokopia, and that these two together are most closely related to Kolopsis rotundus also from New Guinea. Black and Mackness (1999) suggested that the Hulitherium clade is more closely related to the clade comprising Zygomaturus plus another undescribed genus from Australia, than it is to Kolopsis.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^
    OCLC 49860159
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Flannery, T. F.; Plane, M. D. (1986). "A new late Pleistocene diprotodontid (Marsupialia) from Pureni, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea" (PDF). BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics. 10: 65–76.
  3. ^ Richard T. Corlett: Megafaunal extinctions and their consequences in the tropical Indo-Pacific, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  4. PMID 17255031
    .
  5. S2CID 244242013
    .

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hulitherium.
Wikispecies has information related to Hulitherium.
  • David Norman. (2001): The Big Book Of Dinosaurs. Pg.133, Welcome Books.
  • Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (Life of the Past) by Pat Vickers Rich, Thomas Hewitt Rich, Francesco Coffa, and Steven Morton
  • Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh by Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp
  • Classification of Mammals by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell
  • Extinctions in Near Time: Causes, Contexts, and Consequences (Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology) by Ross D.E. MacPhee and Hans-Dieter Sues
  • https://www.seraphicmass.org/news/berard/panegyric.htm
  • McBride, Malachy. "Welcome, Mbilai. That is your name now". seraphicmass.org. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
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