Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have discovered a brand-new types of ancient beaver in their fossil collections and named it “Anchitheriomys buceei” after the popular Texas travel center chain, Buc-ees. The scientists published a paper in Palaeontologia Electronica, explaining the new types and another smaller types of fossil beaver, and provided an overview of beaver occurrences in Texas from 15 to 22 million years ago based on bones and archival records in the UT collections.
A brand-new species of ancient beaver that was uncovered by researchers in The University of Texas at Austins fossil collections has been named after Buc-ees, a Texas-based chain of popular travel centers known for its cartoon beaver mascot.
The beaver is called Anchitheriomys buceei, or “A. buceei” for brief.
Steve May, a research partner at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences, said that the beavers Texas connection and an opportunity encounter with a Buc-ees signboard are what inspired the name.
To the casual observer, it probably wouldnt have actually looked much various from beavers living in Texas today, according to study co-author Matthew Brown, the director of the Jackson Schools vertebrate paleontology collections. A. buceei was bigger– about 30% larger than contemporary beavers– though still much smaller sized than the bear-size beavers that lived in North America during the last Ice Age.
Most of what scientists understand about the new fossil beaver comes from a special partial skull from Burkeville, Texas. Eighty years later on, May and Brown, with the aid of new innovation and a much better understanding of the fossil record of beavers, picked up where Hesse left off.
May, a research associate, holds a skull from Anchitheriomys buceei, a new species of ancient beaver that he discovered in the collections and named.
A reconstruction of a skull from Anchitheriomys buceei, a freshly found types of ancient beaver. Credit: UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences
May is the lead author of the paper that explains A. buceei, along with another, much smaller, species of fossil beaver. Published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica, the paper supplies a summary of beaver occurrences along the Texas Gulf Coast from 15 million to 22 million years ago based on bones and archival records in the UT collections.
While driving down a highway in 2020, May identified a Buc-ees billboard that stated “This is Beaver Country.” The phrase evoked the Texas beaver fossils he had actually been studying at UTs Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collections.
” I believed, Yeah, it is beaver country, and it has been for countless years,” May said.
A graphic comparing the size of Anchitheriomys buceei with an average North American Beaver and a typical guy in the United States. Outlined in white are fossil bones in the UT collections, consisting of a partial skull and jaw, and parts of the radius and ulna that make up the elbow. Credit: UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences/ National Center for Health Statistics/ USDA Forest Service
A. buceei resided in Texas about 15 million years ago. To the casual observer, it probably wouldnt have looked much various from beavers residing in Texas today, according to study co-author Matthew Brown, the director of the Jackson Schools vertebrate paleontology collections. However, one essential distinction is size. A. buceei was bigger– about 30% bigger than contemporary beavers– though still much smaller than the bear-size beavers that resided in North America during the last Ice Age.
The UT collections includes A. buceei fossils from 6 Texas sites. Many of what scientists know about the brand-new fossil beaver comes from an unique partial skull from Burkeville, Texas. The fossil is a blend of bone and brain cast that was created when sediment naturally leaked into the beavers brain cavity eons back, producing a rock reproduction of the brain as the specimen fossilized.
A partial skull fossil from the ancient beaver Anchitheriomys buceei (on right) alongside a skull restoration. Credit: UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences/ Matthew Brown
High-resolution X-ray images of the skull gotten at UT Austins Computed Tomography Lab brought little anatomical details of the skull into clear view. These information assisted May and Brown confirm that the skull came from a brand-new types. However they werent the very first to believe it.
One of them, Curtis Hesse, a museum curator at Texas A&M University, said in notes that he intended to call it a brand-new species. Eighty years later, May and Brown, with the aid of brand-new innovation and a better understanding of the fossil record of beavers, chose up where Hesse left off.
Matthew Brown (left) and Steve May with beaver skulls old and brand-new in the vertebrate paleontology collections at the Jackson School of Geosciences Brown, the director of the collections, holds a skull from a contemporary North American Beaver. May, a research associate, holds a skull from Anchitheriomys buceei, a brand-new species of ancient beaver that he discovered in the collections and named. Credit: UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences.
” New discoveries in the field capture lots of attention, however similarly as valuable are the discoveries made in existing museum collections,” Brown said. “We understand that these chances are cluttered throughout the drawers in these cabinets.”
After becoming aware of the ancient beaver called after his company, the creator and CEO of Buc-ees, Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, said that Buc-ees has a longer history in Texas than he initially thought.
” Buc-ees was established in 1982, but we might require to rethink our starts,” he said.
Referral: “Anchitheriomys buceei (Rodentia, Castoridae) from the Miocene of Texas and an evaluation of the Miocene beavers from the Texas Coastal Plain, USA” by Steven R. May and Matthew A. Brown, March 2023, Palaeontologia Electronica.DOI: 10.26879/ 1236.
The study was funded by the UT Jackson School of Geosciences and the Texas Historical Foundation.