Ptolemaiida

{{Short description|Extinct order of mammals}}

{{distinguish|Ptolemaida}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Ptolemaiida

| fossil_range = Latest Eocene to ?Miocene

| image = Ptolemaia lyonsi jaw (cropped).jpg

| image_caption = Lower jaw of Ptolemaia lyonsi

| display_parents = 2

| taxon = Ptolemaiida

| authority = Simons & Bown, 1995

| subdivision_ranks = Families and genera

| subdivision =

• Ptolemaiidae Osborn, 1908
• Cleopatrodon
• Ptolemaia (type genus)
• Kelbidae
• Kelba
• incertae sedis
• Qarunavus

}}

Ptolemaiida is a taxon of wolf-sized afrothere mammals that lived in northern and eastern Africa during the Paleogene. The oldest fossils are from the latest Eocene strata of the Jebel Qatrani Formation, near the Fayum oasis in Egypt.{{cite journal |last1=Simons |first1=E. L. |last2=Bown |first2=T. M. |title=Ptolemaiida, a new order of Mammalia—with description of the cranium of Ptolemaia grangeri |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=92 |issue=8 |pages=3269–73 |date=April 1995 |pmid=11607526 |pmc=42147 |doi=10.1073/pnas.92.8.3269 |bibcode=1995PNAS...92.3269S|doi-access=free }} A tooth is known from an Oligocene-aged stratum in Angola,{{cite journal |last1=Jacobs |first1=L. L. |last2=Myers |first2=T. S. |last3=Goncalves |first3=A. O. |last4=Graf |first4=J. F. |last5=Jacobs |first5=B. F. |last6=Kappelman |first6=J. W. |last7=Mateus |first7=O. |last8=Polcyn |first8=M. J. |last9=Rasbury |first9=E. T. |last10=Vineyard |first10=D. P. |date=2013 |title=Cabinda revisited: Age and environment of new Cenozoic vertebrate fossils from northern Angola |journal=Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs |volume=45 |issue=7 |page=0}} and Miocene specimens (of Kelba) are known from Kenya and Uganda. {{cite journal |last=Savage |date=1965 |title=Fossil Mammals of Africa: 19. The Miocene Carnivora of East Africa |journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=241–316}}

The origin of the Ptolemaiida is obscure, and debated. The type species was originally thought to be a primate, but, later, when elongated skulls with long canines of Ptolemaia and Qarunavus were found, they were then thought to be hyaenodontids, or giant, carnivorous relatives of the pantolestids Palaeosinopa, and of modern shrews{{cite journal |url= http://www-personal.umich.edu/~gingeric/PDFfiles/PDG015_Masrasector.pdf |title=New Carnivorous Mammals from the Oligocene of Egypt |last1=Simon |display-authors=etal |journal=Annals of the Geological Survey of Egypt |date=1974 |volume=IV |pages=157–166}} The family Ptolemaiidae was elevated to order level in 1995, although some experts later placed the Ptolemaiidae within the pantolestids.{{Cite book |last1=McKenna |first1=Malcolm C. |last2=Bell |first2=Susan Groag |title=Classification of Mammals above the Species Level |date=1997 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-11013-8}}

Recently, Ptolemaiida has been placed within Afrotheria{{cite journal |last1=Nishihara |first1=H. |last2=Satta |first2=Y. |last3=Nikaido |first3=M. |last4=Thewissen |first4=J. G. |last5=Stanhope |first5=M. J. |last6=Okada |first6=N. |title=A retroposon analysis of Afrotherian phylogeny |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=22 |issue=9 |pages=1823–33 |date=2005 |pmid=15930154 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msi179 |doi-access=free }} on the basis of paleobiology, as the taxon was endemic to Africa, and because of some similarities in the anatomical features of the skull in common with aardvarks.{{cite journal |last1=Cote |first1=S |last2=Werdelin |first2=L. |last3=Seiffert |first3=E. R. |last4=Barry |first4=J. C. |title=Additional material of the enigmatic Early Miocene mammal Kelba and its relationship to the order Ptolemaiida |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=104 |issue=13 |pages=5510–5 |date=March 2007 |pmid=17372202 |pmc=1838468 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0700441104 |bibcode = 2007PNAS..104.5510C |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last=Seiffert |first=Erik R. |title=A new estimate of afrotherian phylogeny based on simultaneous analysis of genomic, morphological, and fossil evidence |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |date=2007 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=224 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-7-224 |pmid=17999766 |pmc=2248600 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2007BMCEE...7..224S }} It is currently unclear if they form a sister taxon to Tubulidentata or are a paraphyletic sequence leading to them. Regardless, their close relation may offer the possibility for true dental synapomorphies in Afroinsectiphilia. A posterior study on ptolemaiidan dentitions further reinforces these results.{{cite journal | url=https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad065/7243713?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false | doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad065 | title=Dental eruption and adult dentition of the enigmatic ptolemaiid Qarunavus meyeri from the Oligocene of the Fayum Depression (Egypt) revealed by micro-computed tomography clarifies its phylogenetic position | date=2023 | last1=Kampouridis | first1=Panagiotis | last2=Hartung | first2=Josephina | last3=Augustin | first3=Felix J. | last4=El Atfy | first4=Haytham | last5=Ferreira | first5=Gabriel S. | journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | volume=199 | issue=4 | pages=1078–1091 | url-access=subscription }}

Recently, there has been a reconsideration of the ptolemaiidan diet, and possible behavior, as wear on the teeth suggest that it crushed hard or abrasive food, and that the teeth had little or no shearing ability. Even so, some sources still refer to them as being gigantic, carnivorous shrews.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh82IW-HHWAC&q=after+the+dinosaurs |title=After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals |publisher=Indiana University Press |last=Prothero |first=Donald R. |date=2006 |pages=168 |isbn=0253000556 |quote=In addition to these large mammals, the small mammal fauna of the Fayûm beds of Africa include many different insectivores (including one, Ptolemaia, that became a wolf-sized predator) ....}}