Content deleted Content added
Line 291:
From 1961 to 1967, expeditions organized by [[Yale University]] to the [[Fayoum]] uncovered a rich diversity of fossil taxa from the [[Jebel Qatrani Formation]]. Among the remains were a vast array of fragmentary dentaries and associated postcranial remains belonging to a new type of hyracoid, collected between 1962 and 1967 in the quarries G, M and I. In 1973, [[Grant E. Meyer]], who had participated in the expeditions, described formally the remains as the new genus and species that he named ''Thyrohyrax domorictus'', based on the only fragmentary right mandible collected in Quarry M during the last year of the expeditions by Meyer himself. Meyer noted the great resemblance between ''Thyrohyrax'' and ''[[Meroehyrax]]'', then placed among the [[Pliohyracinae]], and proposed that ''T. domorictus'', while a [[Sagatheriinae]], was closely related to the last common ancestor of the more derived pliohyracins.<ref name=Meyer1973>{{cite journal|first1=G.E.|last1=Meyer|title=A new Oligocene hyrax from the Jebel el Qatrani Formation, Fayum, Egypt|date=1973|journal=Postilla|volume=1653|pages=1-11}}</ref> In 1978, in an overview of the fossil African hyraxes, Meyer still excluded ''Thyrohyrax'' from Pliohyracinae, but speculated that it was at least closely related in its dental anatomy to the earliest stage of a lineage leading directly to ''Pliohyrax'' through ''Meroehyrax''. He also transfered in the same chapter ''M. pygmaeus'' to the genus ''[[Pachyhyrax]]''.<ref name=Meyer1978>{{cite book |last=Meyer|first=G.E.|date=1978|editor-last1=Maglio|editor-first1=V.J.|editor-last2=Cooke|editor-first2=H.B.S.|title=Evolution of African Mammals|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=284-314|chapter=Hyracoidea|isbn=}}</ref>
In 1988, [[David Tab Rasmussen]] and [[Elwyn L. Simons]], describing the hyracoid remains collected in the [[Jebel Qatrani Formation]] of the Fayum between 1977 and 1984, finally transfered to ''Thyrohyrax'' ''P. pygmaeus'', and referred another isolated molar to the species ; he also referred a great number of specimens to the more abundant type species ''T. domorictus'', and mentioned the presence of a third smaller species, ''T.'' sp., known from a few isolated teeth and a fragmentary mandible.<ref name=TabRasmussen1988>{{cite journal|first1=D.|last1=Tab Rasmussen|first2=E.L.|last2=Simons|title=New Oligocene hyracoids from Egypt|date=1988|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=8(1)|pages=67-83}}</ref> In 1990, Tab Rasmussen, [[Mario Gagnon]] and Simons signaled the collection of several isolated hyracoid [[astragalus (bone)|astragali]], including one of small size, found in the newly exploited quarry L-41 of the Jebel Qatrani Formation, and tentatively attributable to ''Thyrohyrax'' or ''Saghatherium''.<ref name=TabRasmussen1990>{{cite journal|first1=D.|last1=Tab Rasmussen|first2=M.|last2=Gagnon|first3=E.L.|last3=Simons|title=Taxeopody in the carpus and tarsus of Oligocene Pliohyracidae (Mammalia: Hyracoidea) and the phyletic position of Hyraxes|date=1990|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=87|pages=4688-4691}}</ref> The next year, 1991, Tab Rasmussen and Simons described, among several new hyracoid taxa, two new species of ''Thyrohyrax'' from Quarry L-41 : the smaller ''T. meyeri'', based on CGM 41882, a partial mandible, to which they referred several fragmentary mandibles, a partial skull, and speculated that some postcranial elements found in the same quarry belonged to the new species, the name honouring Grant E. Meyer, the founder of the genus ; and the larger ''T. litholagus'', based on CGM 41880, a partial mandible, to which they referred four other mandibles, two maxilla and two cranial fragments, the species name, based on the greek prefix "'lithos'" ("rock"), and the suffix "'lagos'", ("rabbit"), meaning "rock rabbit", a translation of the common name used for hyraxes by modern Egyptians.<ref name=TabRasmussen1991>{{cite journal|first1=D.|last1=Tab Rasmussen|
The genus name, ''Thyrohyrax'', is formed from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] prefix "''thyra-''", meaning "window", and the suffix "''-hyrax''", referring to the internal fenestra in the mandible of the presumed females. The type species name is formed from the Greek "''domos-''", meaning "house" and the [[Latin]] ''-ramus'', meaning "jaws", referring to the chambered jaws of the type species.<ref name=Meyer1973/>
| |||