Long-tailed Anoplotherium: now a Vulpavus descendant in the LRT

A short one today
as long-tailed, hoofed, Late Eocene Anopolotherium now nests in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2337 taxa) closer to the origin of the Placental 1 clade, derived from the much smaller Early Eocene Vulpavus profectus (Fig 1).

Vulpavus profectus is also the outgroup to European moles, like Talpa.

Figure 1. Vulpavus profectus here compared to the much larger, long-tailed, hooved Anopolotherium. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Vulpavus profectus here compared to the much larger, long-tailed, hooved Anopolotherium.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/anoplotherium-vulpavus588.jpg?w=65″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/anoplotherium-vulpavus588.jpg?w=222″ class=”size-full wp-image-95008″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/anoplotherium-vulpavus588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Vulpavus profectus here compared to the much larger, long-tailed, hooved Anopolotherium.” width=”584″ height=”2690″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/anoplotherium-vulpavus588.jpg?w=584&h=2690 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/anoplotherium-vulpavus588.jpg?w=65&h=300 65w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/anoplotherium-vulpavus588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />

Figure 1. Vulpavus profectus here compared to the much larger, long-tailed, hooved Anopolotherium.

Anoplotherium is a traditional artiodactyl.
By contrast, the LRT recovers Anoplotherium far outside extant Artiodactyla. Hooves and reduced digit numbers occurred by convergence.

This convergence has been overlooked by prior workers.

According to Wikipedia,
“The most surprising element to Cuvier, however, was the enormous tail with 22 vertebrae in the skeleton, a feature that he said he would not have known about previously, as there are no modern analogues of the elongated and thick tail in any large quadrupedal mammal.”

And now we know why.

“The Anoplotheriidae’s 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) or a close relative to the infraorder and some others believing that it may have been closer to the Ruminantia (which includes tragulids and other close Palaeogene relatives).”

The LRT resolves this issue.

Weppe et al  2020 reported,
“he Cainotheriidae, Robiacinidae, Anoplotheriidae, and Mixtotheriidae formed a clade that was the sister group to the Ruminantia while Tylopoda, along with the Amphimerycidae and Xiphodontidae split earlier in the tree.”

Weppe et al did not mention Vulpavus (Fig 1) in their text. Instead they “Pulled a Larry Martin” by assuming Anopolotherium (Fig 1) was an artiodactyl or an ungulate based on the presence of hooves and the reduction of digits.
Taxon exclusion was once again the issue that hobbled their study.
Too many taxa is always better than too few in phylogenetic analysis.

References
Cuvier G 1804. Suite des Recherches: Sur les espèces d’animaux dont proviennent les os fossiles répandus dans la pierre à plâtre des environs de Paris. Annales du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (in French). 3: 364–387.
Weppe R et al ( 7 co-authors) 2020. Cainotheriidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from Dams (Quercy, SW France): phylogenetic relationships and evolution around the Eocene–Oligocene transition (MP19–MP21). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (7): 541–572.

wiki/Anoplotherium