Bootherium

Bootherium (Greek: "ox" (boos), "beast" (therion)[1]) is an extinct bovid genus from the middle to late Pleistocene of North America which contains a single species, Bootherium bombifrons.[2] Vernacular names for Bootherium include Harlan's muskox, woodox, woodland muskox,[3] helmeted muskox,[4] or bonnet-headed muskox.[5]

Bootherium
Temporal range: middle to late Pleistocene,
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Caprinae
Tribe: Ovibovini
Genus: †Bootherium
Leidy, 1852
Species:
†B. bombifrons
Binomial name
†Bootherium bombifrons
(Harlan, 1825)
Synonyms

Symbos cavifrons

Taxonomy
Skull

Symbos was formerly thought to be a separate genus, but is now known to be synonymous.[6] It is most closely related to the modern muskox (Ovibos moschatus), from which it diverged around 3 million years ago.[7] It is possibly synonymous with Euceratherium, although this is uncertain.[8] Three other species of muskoxen inhabited North America during the Pleistocene era; in addition to the extant tundra muskox, the extinct “shrub-ox” (Euceratherium collinum) and Soergel's ox (Soergelia mayfieldi) were also present.

Description

Unlike today's Arctic and tundra-adapted muskoxen, with their long, shaggy coats, Bootherium was physically adapted to a range of less frigid climates, and appears to have been the only species of muskox to have evolved in and remain restricted to the North American continent (the Arctic muskox's range is circumpolar, and includes the northern reaches of Eurasia as well as North America).[3] Bootherium was significantly taller and leaner than muskoxen found today in Arctic regions. Bootherium were estimated to weigh around 423.5 kg (934 lb).[9] Other differences were a thicker skull and considerably longer snout. The horns of Bootherium were situated high on the skull, with a downward curve and were fused along the midline of the skull, unlike tundra muskoxen whose horns are separated by a medial groove.

Distribution

Bootherium was one of the most widely distributed muskox species in North America during the Pleistocene era. Fossils have been documented from as far north as Alaska to California, Utah,[10] Texas, Missouri, Michigan,[11] Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey. The species went into decline, and eventual extinction, approximately 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age.[3]

Notes
  1. "Glossary. American Museum of Natural History". Archived from the original on 20 November 2021.
  2. McKenna & Bell, 1997, p. 442.
  3. The Academy of Natural Sciences Archived April 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Helmeted Muskox (Bootherium bombifrons) from Near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta: Dating Evidence for Redeposition in Late Pleistocene Alluvium
  5. Martin, Paul S. (1999). "War Zones and Game Sinks in Lewis and Clark's West". Conservation Biology. 13: 36–45. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1999.97417.x. S2CID 8580899.
  6. McDonald, Jerry N.; Ray, Ray, Clayton E. (1989). "Autochthonous North American Musk Oxen Bootherium, Symbos, and Gidleya (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Bovidae)". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (66): 1–77. doi:10.5479/si.00810266.66.1. ISSN 0081-0266.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. West, Abagael Rosemary (January 2016). "Mitogenome of the extinct helmeted musk ox, Bootherium bombifrons". Mitochondrial DNA Part B. 1 (1): 862–863. doi:10.1080/23802359.2016.1250136. ISSN 2380-2359. PMC 7799672. PMID 33473657.
  8. Bover, Pere; Llamas, Bastien; Thomson, Vicki A.; Pons, Joan; Cooper, Alan; Mitchell, Kieren J. (December 2018). "Molecular resolution to a morphological controversy: The case of North American fossil muskoxen Bootherium and Symbos". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 129: 70–76. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.08.008. PMID 30121342. S2CID 52041464.
  9. Paleobiology Database: Bootherium bombifrons
  10. http://giw.utahgeology.org/giw/index.php/GIW/article/download/17/24/
  11. Abraczinskas, L. M. "Pleistocene proboscidean sites in Michigan: New records and an update on published sites". Michigan Academian. 25 (4): 443–490.

References
  • McKenna, Malcolm C.; Bell, Susan K. (1997). Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. ISBN 978-0-231-11013-6.
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