Harpagolestes

Harpagolestes is an extinct genus of hyena like, bear sized mesonychid mesonychian that lived in Central and Eastern Asia as well western and central North America during the middle to late Eocene. It was one of the largest mesonychians known, with large species having a skull length of at least 40 cm (16 in). Unlike the closely related Mesonyx, Harpagolestes was believed to have been a scavenger as it lacked the dentition to effectively slice through flesh and tendon as well as stout limbs. Harpagolestes was the last North American mesonychid, with the last species going extinct after the early Duchesnean of NALMA.

Harpagolestes

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MesonychidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Mesonychidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Mesonychidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 8.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 45.9 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 51.1 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Eocene — about 28 of 29 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 29 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 1 occurrence47–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 3 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 3 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 3 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 3 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 3 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 3 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–37 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences45.9 Mya37.71 Mya51.7 Mya22.5 Mya

29 occurrences of Harpagolestes on record, most of them in the Eocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

29 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

Uinta — 40.15°N, 109.62°WUinta — 40.17°N, 109.93°WUinta — 40.08°N, 109.27°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WLaredo — 27.53°N, 99.43°WWashakie — 41.70°N, 109.00°WIrdin Manha — 43.33°N, 111.76°ELushi — 34.05°N, 111.03°EColmena Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WCypress Hills — 50.20°N, 107.60°WFriars — 32.90°N, 117.10°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.20°N, 103.20°WShara Murum — 42.04°N, 111.53°ENadu — 23.90°N, 106.62°EClarno — 44.93°N, 120.42°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Harpagolestes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Harpagolestes and its relatives

Eocene

Where Harpagolestes and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

434 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 25 sites for Harpagolestes, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

20 references

Each of the 29 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 8 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Harpagolestes

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Harpagolestes was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMesonychidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wortman 1901