Protictitherium: now a long-legged tree shrew, not a hyaena

This is another unexpected hypothetical pairing
that struggled to pop into attention until yesterday. Here it is now (Figs 1–3).

…until something better comes along, which is the nature of phylogenetic analysis… something better always comes along.

Figure 1. Protictitherium compared to the basal primate, Notharctus, and the extant tree shrew, Tupaia. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Protictitherium compared to the basal primate, Notharctus, and the extant tree shrew, Tupaia.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/protictitherium-tupaia-588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/protictitherium-tupaia-588.jpg?w=584″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” class=”size-full wp-image-86877″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/protictitherium-tupaia-588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Protictitherium compared to the basal primate, Notharctus, and the extant tree shrew, Tupaia.” width=”584″ height=”288″ />

Figure 1. Protictitherium compared to the basal primate, Notharctus, and the extant tree shrew, Tupaia.

According to Wikipedia:
“Protictitherium is an extinct genus of hyena that lived across Europe and Asia during the Middle and Late Miocene, it is often considered to be the first hyena since it contains some of the oldest fossils of the family.”

“It has been suggested that Protictitherium was a partly arboreal predator, due to their semi-retractable claws, perhaps to avoid larger predators . While they possessed somewhat large molars and premolars, their bite wasn’t remarkably strong.”

Figure 2. Protictitherium skull in situ, reconstructed and compared to Tupaia. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 2. Protictitherium skull in situ, reconstructed and compared to Tupaia.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/protictitherium_skull588-2.jpg?w=159″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/protictitherium_skull588-2.jpg?w=542″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” class=”size-full wp-image-86891″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/protictitherium_skull588-2.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Protictitherium skull in situ, reconstructed and compared to Tupaia.” width=”584″ height=”1103″ />

Figure 2. Protictitherium skull in situ, reconstructed and compared to Tupaia.

Not a hyaena. No, far from it.
Protictitherium (Figs 1, 2) now a long-legged terrestrial and scansorial tree shrew close to Tupaia (Figs 1, 3). The previously overlooked key to locking up this interrelationship is the postorbital portion of the ascending process of the jugal seen in the in situ specimen, added yesterday to the reconstruction using DGS colors.

Presently there are no intermediate taxa linking Tupaia to Protictitherium.

Figure 2. Tupaia, the extant tree shrew.

Protictitherium crassum
(Kretzoi 1938; Miocene-Pliocene) is traditionally considered a hyena-like civet. Here Protictitherium nests with tiny Tupaia, a tree shrew. Koufos and Konidaris 2011 considered Protictitherium a scansorial (= climbing) insectivore. We looked at Protictitherium earlier here as a basal placental, something it remains now, slightly shifted.

This appears to be a novel hypothesis of interrelationships.
If not, please provide a citation so I can promote it here.

References
Koufos GD and Kondiaris 2011. Late Miocene carnivores of the Greco-Iranian Province: Composition, guild structure and palaeoecology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 305:215–228.
Kretzoi M 1938. Die Raubtiere von Gombaszög nebst einer Übersicht der Gesamtfauna. Annales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 31:88–157.

wiki/Tupaia
wiki/Protictitherium

Basal placentals to scale, including Protictitherium, a new LRT taxon