Osmotherium is an extinct genus of skunk from Pleistocene North America. it contains a single species, Osmotherium spelaeum.[1] The genus name, Osmotherium, hails from Aincient Greek, osmḗ, "smell"; and therium, "beast"; meaning smelly beast. The species name, spelaeum, Latin for "cave", in reference to the sole locality which its remains have been found in, Port Kennedy Bone Cave.

Osmotherium
Temporal range: 1.8–0.3 Ma
Pleistocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Genus:
Osmotherium

Cope, 1896
Type species
Osmotherium spelaeum
Cope, 1896

While fragmentary, Osmotherium spelaeum's jaws are the most prominent of any other Mephitid in the locality, with Cope himself describing 6 different specimens, although attributing some to Mephitis, Brachyprotoma and the now defunct Pelycictis.[2][3][4]

While information on these fragmentary remains scarce, in 2005 Wang et al.'s description of Martinogale faulli, Osmotherium was recovered as a sister genus to Mephitis: [5]

Mephitidae

References

edit
  1. ^ Cope, E. D. (1896). "New and Little Known Mammalia from the Port Kennedy Bone Deposit". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 48: 378–394.
  2. ^ Cope, E. D. (1899). "Vertebrate remains from Port Kennedy bone deposits". Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 11: 193–286.
  3. ^ Hall, E. R. (1936). Mustelid Mammals from the Pleistocene of North America: With Systematic Notes on Some Recent Members of the Gerera Mustela, Taxidea and Mephitis.
  4. ^ Daeschler, E., Spamer, E. E., & Parris, D. C. (1993). Review and new data on the Port Kennedy local fauna and flora (Late Irvingtonian), Valley Forge National Historical Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The Mosasaur, 5, 23–41.
  5. ^ Wang, Xiaoming; Whistler, David P.; Takeuchi, Gary T. (2005-12-30). "A new basal skunk Martinogale (Carnivora, Mephitinae) from Late Miocene Dove Spring Formation, California, and origin of New World mephitines". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 25 (4): 936–949. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0936:ANBSMC]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0272-4634.