Lycopsis

Lycopsis is an extinct genus of South American metatherian, that lived during the Miocene in Argentina and Colombia.[1]

Lycopsis
Fossil of L. longirostrus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
†Sparassodonta
Superfamily:
†Borhyaenoidea
Genus:
†Lycopsis

Cabrera 1927
Species
  • L. torresi Cabrera 1927 (type species)
  • L. longirostrus Marshall 1976
  • L. viverensis Forasiepi et al. 2003
Synonyms
  • Anatherium oxyrhynchus Ameghino 1894

History

Although not named until 1927, Florentino Ameghino described a species now seen as synonymous with Lycopsis torresi, Anatherium oxyrhynchus, in 1895 based on a mandibular ramus with several teeth.[2][3] The fossil was recovered from Puesto Estancia La Costa in Santa Cruz, Argentina, dating to the Miocene.[3] The type material of Lycopsis was collected in July of 1895 by "C. Berry" from the middle Miocene strata of the Santa Cruz Formation along the Santa Cruz River in the same area.[2][4] The fossils (MLP 11-113) were fragmentary, constituting only several fragmentary jaw sections from the maxilla and mandible, including several molars.[4][5] However, these fossils weren't named until in 1927, Angelo Cabrera named Lycopsis torresi, the generic name meaning "wolf-like aspect" after the anatomy of the mandible and the specific name after Argentine paleontologist and the director of the Museo de la Plata at the time, Luis Maria Torres.[4]

Taxonomy
Skull of Lycopsis

The cladogram after the analysis of Suárez et al., 2015, looks as follows:[6]

Sparassodonta
 

Patene

 
 
 

Hondadelphys

 
 
 

Stylocynus

 
 
Hathliacynidae
 

Acyon

 
 
 

Cladosictis

 
 
 

Sipalocyon

 
 
 

Notogale

 
 

Sallacyon

 
 
 
 
 
Borhyaenoidea
Lycopsis
 

Lycopsis longirostrus

 
 
 

Lycopsis viverensis

 
 
 

Lycopsis torresi

 
 

Lycopsis padillai

 
 
 
 
 
 

Prothylacynus

 
 
 

Pharsophorus

 
 
Borhyaenidae
 

Borhyaena

 
 
 

Australohyaena

 
 
 

Arctodictis sinclairi

 
 

Arctodictis munizi

 
 
 
 
 
 

Callistoe

 
 
 

Paraborhyaena

 
Thylacosmilidae
 

Patagosmilus

 
 

Thylacosmilus

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Distribution

Fossils of Lycopsis have been found in:[3]

References
  1. Argot, C. (2004). "Functional-adaptive analysis of the postcranial skeleton of a Laventan borhyaenoid, Lycopsis longirostris (Marsupialia, Mammalia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (3): 689–708. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2004)024[0689:FAOTPS]2.0.CO;2.
  2. Marshall, L. G. (1977). A new species of Lycopsis (Borhyaenidae: Marsupialia) from the La Venta fauna (Late Miocene) of Colombia, South America. Journal of Paleontology, 633-642.
  3. Lycopsis at Fossilworks.org
  4. Cabrera, Á. (1927). Datos para el conocimiento de los dasiuroideos fósiles argentinos. Revista del Museo de la Plata, 30, 271-315.
  5. Argot, C. (2004). Functional-adaptive analysis of the postcranial skeleton of a Laventan borhyaenoid, Lycopsis longirostris (Marsupialia, Mammalia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(3), 689-708.
  6. Suárez, C.; Forasiepi, A. M.; Goin, F. J.; Jaramillo, C. (2015). "Insights into the Neotropics prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange: new evidence of mammalian predators from the Miocene of Northern Colombia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36: e1029581. doi:10.1080/02724634.2015.1029581. S2CID 86264178.
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