New data on the earliest known arsinoitheriid embrithopod (Mammalia, Paenungulata), Namatherium Pickford, Senut, Morales, Mein & Sanchez, 2008 from the middle Eocene of Namibia

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Gheerbrant, Emmanuel, Billet, Guillaume, Pickford, Martin (2025): New data on the earliest known arsinoitheriid embrithopod (Mammalia, Paenungulata), Namatherium Pickford, Senut, Morales, Mein & Sanchez, 2008 from the middle Eocene of Namibia. Geodiversitas 47 (8): 343-368, DOI: 10.5252/geodiversitas2025v47a8, URL: sciencepress.mnhn.fr/sites/default/files/articles/pdf/geodiversitas2025v47a8.pdf ABSTRACT We here describe and interpret recently discovered material of the embrithopod mammal Namatherium blackcrowense Pickford, Senut, Morales, Mein & Sanchez, 2008 from the Lutetian Black Crow locality, in Namibia, a species previously only known from the holotype.

The new specimen, a distal part of a skull including the petrosals, complements the holotype well and allows a virtual reconstruction of a large part of the skull of N. blackcrowense. The CT scan study of the petrosal and labyrinth and the squamosal morphology unambiguously support referral of the new specimen to N. blackcrowense. Our comparisons and phylogenetic study support a close relationship between Namatherium Pickford, Senut, Morales, Mein & Sanchez, 2008 and the more derived Fayum genus Arsinoitherium Beadnell, 1902, and its inclusion within the family Arsinoitheriidae.