Middle Eocene European Dacrytherium enters the LRT
I never heard of Dacrytherium
(Figs 1, 2) before today. It was described by Fihol in 1876.
Those were the earliest days of paleontology.
Figure 1. Dacrytherium and Theosodon skulls compared. DGS colors added here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/dacrytherium_ovinum_skull588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/dacrytherium_ovinum_skull588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-94279″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/dacrytherium_ovinum_skull588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Dacrytherium and Theosodon skulls compared. DGS colors added here.” width=”584″ height=”385″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/dacrytherium_ovinum_skull588.jpg?w=584&h=385 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/dacrytherium_ovinum_skull588.jpg?w=150&h=99 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/dacrytherium_ovinum_skull588.jpg?w=300&h=198 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/dacrytherium_ovinum_skull588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Dacrytherium and Theosodon skulls compared. DGS colors added here. Note the separation of the anterior premaxillae. Note the loss of the nasals in Theosodon, leaving a space shaped like the nasals in Dacrytherium.
According to Wikipedia – Dacrytherium:
“Dacrytherium was a medium-sized artiodactyl that is defined by specific dental traits separating it from the Anoplotheriinae. Typically, its species have deep preorbital fossae. Dacrytherium itself was likely folivorous, but its lifestyle is unknown given the general scarcity of post-cranial evidence.”
Anoplotherium is another new taxon for me. Study awaits.
Hooker 2007 considered it a long-tailed bipedal browser.
“Relations with other members of the Artiodactyla are not well-resolved, with some determining it to be either a tylopod (which includes camelids and merycoidodonts of the Palaeogene). Others believing that it may have been closer to the Ruminantia (which includes tragulids and other close Palaeogene relatives).
Figure 2. Macrauchenia compared to Theosodon and Dacrytherium.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/macrauchenia-skull-588.jpg?w=153″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/macrauchenia-skull-588.jpg?w=523″ class=”size-full wp-image-94281″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/macrauchenia-skull-588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Macrauchenia compared to Theosodon and Dacrytherium.” width=”584″ height=”1144″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/macrauchenia-skull-588.jpg?w=584&h=1144 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/macrauchenia-skull-588.jpg?w=77&h=150 77w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/macrauchenia-skull-588.jpg?w=153&h=300 153w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/macrauchenia-skull-588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Macrauchenia compared to Theosodon and Dacrytherium.
Apparently no citations
mention Theosodon and Macrauchenia (Fig 2), both camel-like, llama-like (by convergence) liptoterns from South America.
Wikipedia articles for these two ( (see below, Fig 2) do not mention Dacrytherium.
Figure 3. The North Pole during the earliest Eocene from the CR Scotese Paleomap project with early primate skulls added, each demonstrating a gradual accumulation of traits.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eocene-primate_migration5881.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eocene-primate_migration5881.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-34658″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eocene-primate_migration5881.jpg” alt=”Figure 3. The North Pole during the earliest Eocene from the CR Scotese Paleomap project with early primate skulls added, each demonstrating a gradual accumulation of traits.” width=”584″ height=”429″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eocene-primate_migration5881.jpg?w=584&h=429 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eocene-primate_migration5881.jpg?w=150&h=110 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eocene-primate_migration5881.jpg?w=300&h=220 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/eocene-primate_migration5881.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 3. The North Pole during the earliest Eocene from the CR Scotese Paleomap project with early primate skulls added, each demonstrating a gradual accumulation of traits.
In and around the Eocene
Asia was connected to North America (Fig 3) and in the LRT that’s how primates radiated into the Western Hemisphere. Given this phylogeny, liptoterns followed (or led) the primates.
Anopolotheriina – Bonaparte 1850.
Liptoterna – Ameghino 1889.
Croft, Gelfo and López 2020
thought South American ungulates = liptoterns, are originated from archaic ‘condylarths’ that migrated fron North America. Wikipedia – Liptoterna reports, “The earliest litopterns appeared during the early Paleocene, around 62.5 million years ago.”
“All became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago.”
This appears to be a novel hypothesis of interrelationships.
If not, please provide a citation so I can promote it here.
References
Croft DA, Gelfo JN and López GM 2020. Splendid Innovation: The Extinct South American Native Ungulates. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 48 (1): 259–290.
Filhol H 1876. Mammifères fossiles nouveaux provenant des dépôts de phosphate de chaux du Quercy. Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences. 82: 288–289.
Hooker JJ 2007. Bipedal browsing adaptations of the unusual Late Eocene–earliest Oligocene tylopod Anoplotherium (Artiodactyla, Mammalia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151(3) 609–659. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00352.x
wiki/Dacrytherium
wiki/Theosodon
wiki/Macrauchenia
wiki/Litopterna
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/08/26/middle-eocene-european-dacrytherium-enters-the-lrt/
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