:Deinogalerix

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Deinogalerix koenigswaldi-Naturalis-PeterMaas.JPG

| image_caption = Skeleton in Naturalis Biodiversity Center

| fossil_range = Late Miocene

{{Fossil range|10|5}}

| taxon = Deinogalerix

| authority = Freudenthal, 1972

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• D. brevirostris
• D. freudenthali
• D. intermedius
• D. koenigswaldi{{cite journal | author = Freudenthal, M. | year = 1972 | title = Deinogalerix koenigswaldi nov. gen., nov. spec., a giant insectivore from the Neogene of Italy | journal = Scripta Geologica | volume = 14 | pages = 1–19}} [http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/record/317440] (includes full text PDF)
• D. minor
• D. masinii{{cite journal |author1=Villiera B. |author2=Van Den Hoek Ostendeb L.W. |author3=De Vosb J. |author4= Paviaa M. | year = 2013| title = New discoveries on the giant hedgehog Deinogalerix from the Miocene of Gargano (Apulia, Italy) | journal = Geobios | volume = 46 | issue = 1–2| pages = 63–75 | doi = 10.1016/j.geobios.2012.10.001 |bibcode=2013Geobi..46...63V }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-deinogalerix-masinii-new-giant-fossil-hedgehog-italy-01535.html |title= Deinogalerix masinii: New Giant Fossil Hedgehog from Italy | publisher=Sci-News.com | date=2013-11-11 |access-date=2013-11-15}}
• D. samniticus{{Cite journal|author1=Andrea Savorelli |author2=Federico Masini |author3=Paul P. A. Mazza |author4=Maria Adelaide Rossi |author5=Silvano Agostini |year=2017 |title=New species of Deinogalerix (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla) from the late Miocene of Scontrone (Abruzzo, central Italy) |journal=Palaeontologia Electronica |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=Article number 20.1.16A |url=http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2017/1658-deinogalerix-from-scontrone |doi=10.26879/672 |doi-access=free }}

}}

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 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.{{cite book|title=Vertebrate Palaeontology |author= Michael J Benton|publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2005|isbn=0-632-05637-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P1LkOL1CijEC&pg=PA335| page=335}}

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.{{cite book|title=The Rise of Placental Mammals|author= Kenneth David Rose|year=2005|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=0-8018-8472-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3bs0D5ix4VAC&pg=PA144| page=144}}

File:Deinogalerix koenigswaldi head.jpg

File:Deinogalerix Gargano fauna.jpg. Artwork by Mauricio Antón.]]

D. koenigswaldi{{'}}s skull was {{convert|21|cm}} long and the entire body measured {{convert|60|cm}}. It occupied the same ecological niche as dogs and cats today. It shared this niche with the enormous barn owl Tyto gigantea.

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.{{cite journal

| last1 = Villier

| first1 = Boris

| last2 = Van Den Hoek Ostende

| first2 = Lars W.

| last3 = De Vos

| first3 = John

| last4 = Pavia

| first4 = Marco

| title = New discoveries on the giant hedgehog Deinogalerix from the Miocene of Gargano (Apulia, Italy)

| journal = Géobios

| volume = 46

| issue = 1–2

| pages = 63–75

| date = 2013

| doi = 10.1016/j.geobios.2012.10.001

| bibcode = 2013Geobi..46...63V

}}