Steneofiber

Taxobox
name = "Steneofiber"
fossil_range = Early Oligocene - Middle Miocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Rodentia
subordo = Castorimorpha
familia = Castoridae
subfamilia = †Castorinae
genus = †"Steneofiber"
genus_authority = Geoffroy, 1833
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*†"S. castorinus"
*†"S. depereti"
*†"S. eseri"
*†"S. jaegeri"
*†"S. minutus"
*†"S. sansaniensi"
*†"S. wezensis"

"Steneofiber" is an extinct genus of beaver from Eurasia.

This small, 30 cm (1 ft) long creature probably lived in large fresh water lakes, like present day beavers. A semiaquatic lifestyle is indicated by the presence of a combing-claw, which living beavers use to waterproof their fur.cite journal | author = Hugueney, M. and F. Escuillié | year = 1995 | title = K-strategy and adaptative specialization in "Steneofiber" from Montaigu-le-Blin (dept. Allier, France; Lower Miocene, MN 2a, ±23 Ma): first evidence of fossil life-history strategies in castorid rodents | journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | volume = 113 | issue = | pages = 217–225 | doi = 10.1016/0031-0182(95)00050-V] Most likely, it was incapable of bringing down trees like its modern relatives. "Steneofiber" was more terrestrial than modern beavers, living in burrows. The finding of a possible family group of "Steneofiber" skeletons in France has been used to infer that the genus employed a K-selected reproductive strategy like modern beavers, in which extensive parental care is given to a small number of offspring. "Steneofiber" is among earliest known members of the subfamily Castorinae, which includes beavers more closely related to the two living species than to the recently extinct Giant Beavercite journal | author = Korth, W.W. | year = 2002 | title = Comments on the systematics and classification of the beavers (Rodentia, Castoridae) | journal = Journal of Mammalian Evolution | volume = 8 | issue = 4 | pages = 279–296 | doi = 10.1023/A:1014468732231] . It is probably descended from the eaeliest castorine, "Propalaeocastor".cite journal | author = Wu, W., Meng, J., Ye, J. and Ni, X. | year = 2002 | title = "Propalaeocastor" (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the early Oligocene of Burqin Basin, Xinjiang | journal = American Museum Novitates | volume = 3461 | issue = | pages = 1–16 | url = http://hdl.handle.net/2246/2771 | doi = 10.1206/0003-0082(2004)461<0001:PRMFTE>2.0.CO;2 | doilabel = 10.1206/0003-0082(2004)4610001:PRMFTE2.0.CO;2]

References