Dinosorex
| Dinosorex | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Heterosoricidae |
| Genus: | Dinosorex Engesser, 1972 |
Dinosorex is an extinct eulipotyphlan genus, popularly referred to as giant terror shrews[1] due to their fearsome lower incisors. Dinosorex lived in Europe from the late Oligocene or early Miocene to the late Miocene, with a range that stretched from Ukraine to Iberia.[2] It was about the size of a modern hedgehog, but its enlarged and strengthened incisors (which have been found to contain iron particles within the enamel) may have allowed it to adopt a partially carnivorous diet, as opposed to the strictly insectivorous diet of most modern mammals of that size.[1]
Taxonomy
The genus was described in 1972 by B. Engesser.[3] It comprises the following species:[4]
- D. anatolicus
- D. engesseri
- D. huerzeleri
- D. pachygnathus
- D. sansaniensis
- D. zapfei
References
- 1 2 Hogenboom, Melissa (27 April 2015). "Mystery of the Giant Terror Shrew". BBC Earth. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ↑ Furió, M., et al., Three million years of “Terror-Shrew” (Dinosorex, Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) in the Miocene of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (Barcelona, Spain). C. R. Palevol (2015)
- ↑ Engesser, B. (1972). "Die obermiozäne Säugetierfauna von Anwil (Baselland); (The Upper Miocene mammalian fauna of Anwil, Baselland)". Tätigkeitsberichte der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Baselland. 28: 35–364.
- ↑ "†Dinosorex Engesser 1972 (placental)". Fossilworks. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
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