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Cuvieronius

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Cuvieronius
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Holocene
↓
 Possible Blancan records
Skull of C. hyodon
Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris
Life restoration of Cuvieronius hyodon
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: †Gomphotheriidae
Genus: †Cuvieronius
Osborn, 1923
Species:
†C. hyodon
Binomial name
†Cuvieronius hyodon
(Fischer, 1814) (conserved name)
Synonyms

C. hyodon

  • C. arellanoi Ochoterena & Silva-Bárcenas, 1970
  • C. tarijensis Ficcarelli et al., 1995
  • C. tropicus(Cope, 1884)
  • C. oligobunis(Cope, 1893)
  • C. priestleyi Hay & Cook, 1930

Cuvieronius is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere which ranged from southern North America to western South America during the Pleistocene epoch. Reaching a shoulder height of 2.3 metres (7.5 ft) and a body mass of 3.5 tonnes (7,700 lb), it was on average shorter but comparable in body mass to an Asian elephant. Cuvieronius inhabited subtropical and tropical latitudes in environments ranging from grasslands to tropical rainforest. Among the last gomphotheres along with the South American Notiomastodon, it became extinct as part of the end Pleistocene-extinction event, approximately 12,000 years ago, along with most other large mammals in the Americas. The extinctions followed the arrival of humans to the Americas, and evidence has been found for human hunting of Cuvieronius, which may have been a factor in its extinction.

Taxonomy

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Gomphothere phylogeny (after Mothé et al. 2016[1])
†Gomphotheriidae (Gomphotheres)

†Gomphotherium

†Gnathabelodon

†Eubelodon

Brevirostrine clade

The species now known as Cuvieronius hyodon was among the first fossil animals from the New World to be studied. The first remains of this species were recovered from Ecuador by Alexander von Humboldt, at a location the local population referred to as the "Field of Giants".[2] Humboldt recognized that, rather than being bones of giant humans as had been thought by the local population and previous Spanish colonists, they were similar to the giant elephants (Mastodon) being described from Ohio. Humboldt sent teeth that he had collected from Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile to French anatomist Georges Cuvier, who classified the teeth into two species, which he referred to as the "mastodonte des cordilières" and the "mastodonte humboldtien", in an 1806 paper.[3] It was not until 1824 that Cuvier formally named the species. He referred both to the genus Mastodon, calling them M. andium and M. humboldtii.[3]

Unknown to Cuvier, Fischer had, in 1814, already named the two species based on Cuvier's original description, in the new genus Mastotherium as M. hyodon and M. humboldtii. The idea of two distinct species continued to be accepted into the 20th century, usually using Cuvier's names, though Fischer's names were older.[3] In 1923, Henry Fairfield Osborn recognized that these species were distinct from Mastodon, and assigned each to its own new genus, Cuvieronius humboldtii and Cordillerion andium, with the name Cuvieronius in honour of Cuvier. However, by the 1930s, general agreement had shifted to regard both forms as representing a single, geographically widespread species, with Cuvieronius humboldtii considered to be the correct name.[3] During the 1950s, the nomenclature of this species became increasingly tangled, as various scientists regarded the type species of the genus Cuvieronius to be Fischer's first published name Mastotherium hyodon, rather than the originally designated Mastodon humboldtii. This situation went unaddressed until 2009, when Spencer Lucas petitioned the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to officially change the type species of Cuvieronius to M. hyodon as had been followed for over 50 years by that time, rather than abandoning the well-known Cuvieronius as a synonym.[3] In 2011, Opinion 2276 of the ICZN ruled to conserve the names.

The species level taxonomy of Cuvieronius is confused. historically, several species were recognised, typically C. tropicus and C. hyodon for North and South American remains, respectively, but recent scholarship suggests that there is only a single valid species, C. hyodon.[4][5]

Description

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Alive, specimens typically stood about 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) tall at the shoulder, and weighed about 3.5 tonnes (7,700 lb), making it around the same shoulder height as an African forest elephant, but heavier and more comparable in weight to an Asian elephant.[6] The skull was relatively long and low-vaulted. The upper tusks were straight to slightly curved, and had a spiral shaped-enamel band,[4][7] and reached considerable size, with tusks in the region of 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) in length and weights in excess of 50 kilograms (110 lb).[8] The lower tusks present in more primitive gomphotheres were vestigial in Cuvieronius, being only present in young juveniles, and the lower jaw shortened (brevirostrine).[9] The third molars typically had 4 to 4.5 lophs/lophids, with some specimens having 5 lophs/lophids, with relatively simple crowns.[7] The limb bones are very robust, even compared to other gomphotheres, likely corresponding with its relatively low body mass.[10]

  • Molar tooth
    Molar tooth
  • Lower jaw
    Lower jaw
  • Skull and jaws of Cuvieronius in various views including side-on (A), in top-down view (D) and from below (E)
    Skull and jaws of Cuvieronius in various views including side-on (A), in top-down view (D) and from below (E)

Ecology

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Cuvieronius inhabited tropical and subtropical latitudes, in environments spanning from savanna and grassland in northern Mexico,[11] the tropical rainforests of Central America,[12] and the arid cool-temperate Andes mountains.[13] Cuvieronius is suggested to have been a generalist mixed feeder that consumed a wide range of plant resources, including grasses and browse (the leaves and twigs of plants like trees and shrubs).[14] Costa Rican C. hyodon were specialised forest inhabitants that primarily fed on C3 plants.[12] In 1982, Daniel H. Janzen and Paul Schultz Martin suggested that the diet of Cuvieronius probably included fruit, and that it was likely an important seed disperser of a variety of Neotropical plants with large fleshy fruits similar to those consumed by large animals in Africa, but which lack effective living native seed dispersers, which they described as "Pleistocene anachronisms".[15] Cuvierionius may have lived in herds, similar to modern elephants.[16]

Evolution

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Cuvieronius initially evolved in North America.[17][7] It is considered closely related to, if not derived from, Rhynchotherium, a North American gomphothere genus known from the Late Miocene and Pliocene.[4] The oldest remains attributed to the genus from the Blancan are very fragmentary, and may belong to Rhynchotherium instead. The oldest unambiguous records of the genus in North America date to 1.4 million years ago (Ma).[7] Cuvieronius was extirpated from its northern range in North America over the course of the Irvingtonian after the arrival of mammoths in North America around 1.3 Ma, presumably due to competitive exclusion by Columbian mammoths as well as mastodons, with its last records in Florida dating to around 500,000 years ago,[14] but persisted in southern North America (including Mexico) and Central America until the very end of the Pleistocene. During the Great American Interchange, Cuvieronius and a relative, Notiomastodon, dispersed into South America.[18] Cuvieronius apparently reached South America considerably later than Notiomastodon, with the oldest possible date being 760,000 ±30,000 years ago and the oldest confirmed date being 304,000 ±54,000 years ago, and had a much more restricted range, confined mostly to the Andes.[19]

Distribution and habitat

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See also: List of gomphothere fossils in South America

In North America, Cuvieronius is known from the Southern United States, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, as well as Mexico. It was also widespread across Central America.[7]

Many gomphothere remains in South America historically referred to Cuvieronius actually refer to Notiomastodon, with many previous studies simply labeling fossils one or the other depending on location. Considering only localities definitely identified as Cuvieronius, the range of Cuvieronius in South America is now considered to span the high Andes from Ecuador in the north, to Bolivia in the south, with the localities in the southern Andes in Chile and Argentina now thought to belong to Notiomastodon.[19] By the end of the Pleistocene, the northern limit of the range of Cuvieronius was in Mexico and Central Texas.[20] Remains found near the town of Hockley in Texas near Houston, which date to around 24,000 years Before Present (BP), are the most recent findings north of Mexico.[21] Cuvieronius was extirpated from South America by the end of the Late Pleistocene, with its youngest dates on the continent being around 44,000 years ago, before the arrival of people.[19]

Extinction

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Curiveronius became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event, simultaneously alongside most other large animals across the Americas. The extinction of Cuvieronius and other megafauna postdates human arrival in the Americas, which occurred several thousand years prior. At the El Fin del Mundo kill site in Sonora, Mexico, remains of an individual of Cuvierionius and another indeterminate gomphothere were found associated with Clovis spear points, suggesting that hunting may have played a role in its extinction.[22][19] The site was initially suggested to date to 13,390 years Before Present, however this date was later contested, and the site may be younger than this.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Mothé, Dimila; Ferretti, Marco P.; Avilla, Leonardo S. (12 January 2016). "The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha". PLOS ONE. 11 (1): e0147009. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1147009M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147009. PMC 4710528. PMID 26756209.
  2. ^ Mayor, A. (2005). Fossil legends of the first Americans. Princeton University Press.
  3. ^ a b c d e Lucas, S.G. (2009). Case 3479 Cuvieronius Osborn, 1923 (Mammalia, Proboscidea): Proposed conservation. Bull. Zool. Nomen, 66, 1-6.
  4. ^ a b c Lucas, S.P., 2008a. Cuvieronius (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Neogene of Florida. In: Lucas, S.P., Morgan, G.S., Spielmann, J.A., Prothero, D.R. (Eds.), Neogene Mammals, vol. 44. N. M. Mus. Nat. Hist. Sci. Bull., pp. 31e38
  5. ^ Morgan, Gary S.; MacFadden, Bruce J.; Martínez, Martín (January 2016). "Quaternary gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Gomphotheriidae) from the continental shelf, Pearl Islands, Panama". Quaternary International. 392: 335–348. Bibcode:2016QuInt.392..335M. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.003.
  6. ^ Larramendi, A. (2016). "Shoulder height, body mass and shape of proboscideans" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61. doi:10.4202/app.00136.2014. S2CID 2092950.
  7. ^ a b c d e Spencer LG 2022. The last North American gomphotheres. N Mex Mus Nat Hist Sci. 88:45–58.
  8. ^ Larramendi, Asier (2023-12-10). "Estimating tusk masses in proboscideans: a comprehensive analysis and predictive model". Historical Biology: 1–14. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2286272. ISSN 0891-2963. S2CID 266182491.
  9. ^ Mothé, Dimila; Ferretti, Marco P.; Avilla, Leonardo S. (12 January 2016). "The Dance of Tusks: Rediscovery of Lower Incisors in the Pan-American Proboscidean Cuvieronius hyodon Revises Incisor Evolution in Elephantimorpha". PLOS ONE. 11 (1): e0147009. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1147009M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147009. PMC 4710528. PMID 26756209.
  10. ^ Bader, Camille; Delapré, Arnaud; Göhlich, Ursula B.; Houssaye, Alexandra (November 2024). "Diversity of limb long bone morphology among proboscideans: how to be the biggest one in the family". Papers in Palaeontology. 10 (6). doi:10.1002/spp2.1597. ISSN 2056-2799.
  11. ^ Mead, Jim I.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquin; Swift, Sandra L. (November 2019). "Late Pleistocene Mammuthus and Cuvieronius (proboscidea) from Térapa, Sonora, Mexico". Quaternary Science Reviews. 223: 105949. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105949.
  12. ^ a b Adrián Pérez-Crespo, Víctor; Laurito, César A.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquín; Valerio, Ana L.; Cienfuegos-Alvarado, Edith; J. Otero, Francisco (2 April 2024). "Feeding habits of the Gomphothere Cuvieronius hyodon in Costa Rica:A biochemical approach". Historical Biology. 36 (4): 734–741. Bibcode:2024HBio...36..734A. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2183856. ISSN 0891-2963. Retrieved 2 April 2024 – via Taylor and Francis.
  13. ^ Alberdi, María T.; Prado, José L. (2022-08-03). "Diversity of the fossil gomphotheres from South America". Historical Biology. 34 (8): 1685–1691. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2067754. hdl:10261/271195. ISSN 0891-2963.
  14. ^ a b Smith, Gregory James; DeSantis, Larisa R. G. (February 2020). "Extinction of North American Cuvieronius (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Gomphotheriidae) driven by dietary resource competition with sympatric mammoths and mastodons". Paleobiology. 46 (1): 41–57. Bibcode:2020Pbio...46...41S. doi:10.1017/pab.2020.7. ISSN 0094-8373.
  15. ^ Janzen, Daniel H.; Martin, Paul S. (January 1982). "Neotropical Anachronisms: The Fruits the Gomphotheres Ate". Science. 215 (4528): 19–27. Bibcode:1982Sci...215...19J. doi:10.1126/science.215.4528.19. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17790450.
  16. ^ Webb S. D., Dudley J. P., Proboscidea from the Leisey Shell Pits, Hillsborough County, Florida. Bull. Florida Mus. Nat. Hist 37, 645–660 (1995).
  17. ^ Lucas, Spencer G.; Yuan, Wang; Min, Liu (2013-01-01). "The palaeobiogeography of South American gomphotheres". Journal of Palaeogeography. 2 (1): 19–40. Bibcode:2013JPalG...2...19L.
  18. ^ Prado, J. L.; Alberdi, M. T.; Azanza, B.; Sánchez, B.; Frassinetti, D. (2005). "The Pleistocene Gomphotheriidae (Proboscidea) from South America". Quaternary International. 126–128: 21–30. Bibcode:2005QuInt.126...21P. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.012.
  19. ^ a b c d Mothé, D.; dos Santos Avilla, L.; Asevedo, L.; Borges-Silva, L.; Rosas, M.; Labarca-Encina, R.; Souberlich, R.; Soibelzon, E.; Roman-Carrion, J.L.; Ríos, S.D.; Rincon, A.D.; de Oliveira, G.C.; Lopes, R.P. (2017). "Sixty years after 'The mastodonts of Brazil': The state of the art of South American proboscideans (Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae)". Quaternary International. 443: 52–64. Bibcode:2017QuInt.443...52M. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.028. hdl:11336/48585.
  20. ^ Graham, R. W. (2001). "Late Quaternary Biogeography and Extinction of Proboscideans in North America" (PDF). In Cavarretta, G.; Gioia, P.; Mussi, M.; Palombo, M. R. (eds.). The World of Elephants (La Terra degli Elefanti) - Proceedings of the 1st International Congress [Atti del 1o Congresso Internazionale], Rome October 16–20, 2001. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. pp. 707–709. ISBN 88-8080-025-6. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  21. ^ Lundelius, Ernest L.; Thies, Kenneth J.; Graham, Russell W.; Bell, Christopher J.; Smith, Gregory James; DeSantis, Larisa R.G. (October 2019). "Proboscidea from the Big Cypress Creek fauna, Deweyville Formation, Harris County, Texas". Quaternary International. 530–531: 59–68. Bibcode:2019QuInt.530...59L. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2019.11.018. S2CID 210613711.
  22. ^ Sanchez, Guadalupe; Holliday, Vance T.; Gaines, Edmund P.; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquín; Martínez-Tagüeña, Natalia; Kowler, Andrew; Lange, Todd; Hodgins, Gregory W. L.; Mentzer, Susan M. (2014-07-29). "Human (Clovis)–gomphothere (Cuvieronius sp.) association ~13,390 calibrated yBP in Sonora, Mexico". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (30): 10972–10977. Bibcode:2014PNAS..11110972S. doi:10.1073/pnas.1404546111. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4121807. PMID 25024193.
  23. ^ Waters, Michael R.; Stafford, Thomas W.; Carlson, David L. (2020-10-23). "The age of Clovis—13,050 to 12,750 cal yr B.P." Science Advances. 6 (43): eaaz0455. Bibcode:2020SciA....6..455W. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz0455. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7577710. PMID 33087355.

Bibliography

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