Indohyaenodon

Indohyaenodon
Temporal range: 54.51–54.5 Ma Early Eocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Hyaenodonta
Subfamily: †Indohyaenodontinae
Genus: †Indohyaenodon
Bajpai, 2009
Type species
†Indohyaenodon raoi
Bajpai, 2009

Indohyaenodon ("Indian Hyaenodon") is an extinct monotypic genus of placental mammals from the subfamily Indohyaenodontinae. Originally it was hypothesized it was part of the family Hyaenodontidae, more recent analysis suggests it was part of the Afro-Arabian clade of hyaenodonts, being more closely related to the Hyainailouroidae. Indohyaenodon lived during the Early Eocene in Cambay Shale Formation of Gujarat, India.

Palaeobiology

Locomotion

Indohyaenodon raoi was capable of arboreal locomotion. Evidence for this includes its peroneal tubercle of the calcaneus being proximally positioned and large, which would have enabled powerful curvature by the peroneal musculature at the expense of plantarflexion, its obliquely oriented and smoothly curved ectal facet on the calcaneus, which would have made the astragalocalcanear joint highly mobile, its very shallow astragalar facet on the tibia, which would have permitted parasagittal and transverse movements at the crurotarsal joint, and its long tibial crest, which gave its gracilis and semitendinosus muscles a high degree of leverage.

References

  1. ↑ Bajpai, S.; Kapur, V. V.; Thewissen, J. G. M. (2009). "Creodont and condylarth from the Cambay Shale (Early Eocene, 55-54MA), Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, Western India". Journal of the Palaeontological Society of India. 54 (1): 103–109.
  2. ↑ Solé, Floréal; Amson, Eli; Borths, Matthew; Vidalenc, Dominique; Morlo, Michael; Bastl, Katharina (2015-09-23). Friedman, Matt (ed.). "A New Large Hyainailourine from the Bartonian of Europe and Its Bearings on the Evolution and Ecology of Massive Hyaenodonts (Mammalia)". PLOS ONE. 10 (9) e0135698. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135698. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4580617. PMID 26398622.
  3. ↑ Borths, Matthew R.; Stevens, Nancy J. (11 October 2017). Smith, Thierry (ed.). "The first hyaenodont from the late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation of Tanzania: Paleoecological insights into the Paleogene-Neogene carnivore transition". PLOS ONE. 12 (10) e0185301. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1285301B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0185301. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5636082. PMID 29020030.
  4. ↑ Solé, F.; Lhuillier, J.; Adaci, M.; Bensalah, M.; Mahboubi, M.; Tabuce, Rodolphe (2013). "The hyaenodontidans from the Gour Lazib area (?Early Eocene, Algeria): implications concerning the systematics and the origin of the Hyainailourinae and Teratodontinae". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 12 (3): 303–322. doi:10.1080/14772019.2013.795196.
  5. ↑ Rana, Rajendra S.; Kumar, Kishor; Zack, Shawn P.; Solé, Floreal; Rose, Kenneth D.; Missiaen, Pieter; Singh, Lachham; Sahni, Ashok; Smith, Thierry (3 September 2015). "Craniodental and postcranial morphology of Indohyaenodon raoi from the early Eocene of India, and its implications for ecology, phylogeny, and biogeography of hyaenodontid mammals". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 35 (5) e965308. doi:10.1080/02724634.2015.965308. ISSN 0272-4634. Retrieved 5 May 2026 – via Taylor and Francis Online.