Deinogalerix (from Ancient Greek, "terrible/terror" + Galerix) is an extinct genus of gymnure which lived in Italy in the Late Miocene, 7-10 million years ago. The genus was apparently endemic to what was then the island of Gargano, which is now a peninsula in southeastern Italy bounded by the Adriatic Sea. The first specimens of Deinogalerix were first described in 1972.[5]
The genus is in the hedgehog subfamily of gymnures or moon-rats, which are not rats at all, but rather hairy, superficially rat-like relatives of the hedgehog lacking quills. Deinogalerix had a long, thin, conical face, small pointed ears, a lengthy, tapering tail and long hairs.[6]
Fossil skull of D. koenigswaldiDeinogalerix in scale with a modern European hedgehog. Artwork by Mauricio Antón.
D. koenigswaldi's skull was 21 centimetres (8.3 in) long and the entire body measured 60 centimetres (24 in). It occupied the same ecological niche as dogs and cats today. It shared this niche with the enormous barn owl Tyto gigantea.[1]
It is believed that the species of Deinogalerix were insectivores, mostly feeding off invertebrates like beetles, dragonflies and crickets, and possibly even snails. But the larger species may also have scavenged on small mammals, reptiles and birds.[7]
In the Late Miocene subepoch, what is at present Italy was mainly a group of small islands and only at a later date did majority of these join with the mainland. It is known that animals on these islands sometimes evolved quite differently from elsewhere. So it is possible that Deinogalerix may have lived exclusively in the Gargano.[citation needed]
^ abFreudenthal, M. (1972). "Deinogalerix koenigswaldi nov. gen., nov. spec., a giant insectivore from the Neogene of Italy". Scripta Geologica. 14: 1–19. [1] (includes full text PDF)
^Villiera B.; Van Den Hoek Ostendeb L.W.; De Vosb J.; Paviaa M. (2013). "New discoveries on the giant hedgehog Deinogalerix from the Miocene of Gargano (Apulia, Italy)". Geobios. 46 (1–2): 63–75. Bibcode:2013Geobi..46...63V. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2012.10.001.
^"Deinogalerix masinii: New Giant Fossil Hedgehog from Italy". Sci-News.com. 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
^Andrea Savorelli; Federico Masini; Paul P. A. Mazza; Maria Adelaide Rossi; Silvano Agostini (2017). "New species of Deinogalerix (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla) from the late Miocene of Scontrone (Abruzzo, central Italy)". Palaeontologia Electronica. 20 (1): Article number 20.1.16A. doi:10.26879/672.
^Michael J Benton (2005). Vertebrate Palaeontology. Blackwell Publishing. p. 335. ISBN 0-632-05637-1.
^Kenneth David Rose (2005). The Rise of Placental Mammals. JHU Press. p. 144. ISBN 0-8018-8472-1.
^Villier, Boris; Van Den Hoek Ostende, Lars W.; De Vos, John; Pavia, Marco (2013). "New discoveries on the giant hedgehog Deinogalerix from the Miocene of Gargano (Apulia, Italy)". Géobios. 46 (1–2): 63–75. Bibcode:2013Geobi..46...63V. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2012.10.001.
Deinogalerix (from Ancient Greek, "terrible/terror" + Galerix) is an extinct genus of gymnure which lived in Italy in the Late Miocene, 7-10 million years...
of the paleokarst fill. The Gargano Island endemic mammals included: Deinogalerix - 5 species of gymnures ("hairy hedgehogs"), among them the giant D....
large dormice Stertomys and Hattomys hamsters, the giant, long-skulled Deinogalerix moonrats, an otter, Prolagus pikas, and the multi-horned artiodactyl...
their prey on the island, such as the great erinaceomorph of Gargano, Deinogalerix, and rodents. Pavia M. (2011). "Fossil birds from the Neogene of the...
"Deinogalerix: a giant hedgehog from the Miocene". Annali dell'Università di Ferrara. 6: 93–102. ISSN 1824-2707. Freudenthal, M. (1972). "Deinogalerix...
typically much smaller than the moonrat. Even larger was the giant gymnure Deinogalerix from Miocene Europe. It was estimated to grow larger than a modern house...
Neocricetodon sp., and Apocricetus sp. The gymnures (hairy hedgehogs) Deinogalerix freudenthalli, D. minor, D. intermedius, D. brevirostris, D. koenigswaldi...
Prehistory. Bar International Series, 1095: 395–405. Freudenthal, M. 1972: Deinogalerix koenigswaldi nov. gen., nov. spec., a giant insectivore from the Neogene...
fossil owl pellets providing direct evidence. Available prey included: Deinogalerix—"hairy hedgehogs" that ranged from weasel- to dog-sized. The giant D...
Pereswiet-Soltan (2018). A study on the phylogenetic relationships of the gymnure Deinogalerix within the tribe Galericini is published by Borrani et al. (2018). A...
Mazza; Maria Adelaide Rossi; Silvano Agostini (2017). "New species of Deinogalerix (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla) from the late Miocene of Scontrone (Abruzzo...
De Vos & Marco Pavia (2013). "New discoveries on the giant hedgehog Deinogalerix from the Miocene of Gargano (Apulia, Italy)". Geobios. 46 (1–2): 63–75...
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