Drkind of them Saber-tooth felines So far unknown, identified from fossils in southern Africa, suggests that the African continent may have been a hotspot in the evolution of these long-toothed felines, 5 to 7 million years ago.
Banner photo: Artistic representation of Smilodon, one of the most famous saber-toothed felines. (The Private Lives of Animals: Prehistoric Animals – Part Three)
All fossils were discovered in Langebaanweg, South Africa. The findings, described in a study published last week (link below), allow paleontologists to create, for the first time, a family tree of the ancient, saber-toothed cats that once roamed the area.
From the study: Sword Teeth (from left to right) Deinophiles wiredeleneAnd Lokotunjailurus chinsamyaeand theAdeilosmilus is large. (Jiangzhou et al. / iScience)
famous Homotherium (North America, Europe, Asia and Africa) f Smilodon (North and South America), were widespread throughout most of the world until the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago, when they became extinct.
Saber-toothed felines roamed the world at the time Eocene At the end of ice Age, from about 56 to 11,700 years ago. These now-extinct big cats included more than two dozen known species, identified from fossils on different continents, but researchers still can’t say which saber-toothed species lived where and when.
Among the Langebaanweg fossils are two already known species, vizAdeilosmilus is large and the Yoshi dark.
One of the new species, f Deinophiles wiredeleneis the first to be definitively recognized as a species dinophiles, a genus widespread in Africa, China, Europe and North America. It would have been comparable in size to a large jaguar and would have lived 5.2 million years ago, at the beginning of the Earth Pliocene.
The researchers expected to find a new type of dinophiles in Langebaanweg, but other new species were not expected. the Lokotunjailurus chinsamyae It is the first specimen of its kind discovered outside Kenya and Chad. This result indicates that Lokotunjailurus It traveled across Africa 5 to 7 million years ago. It was barely larger than the size Deinophiles wiredelenewho also lived 5.2 million years ago.
Lokotunjailurus emageritus in Upper Miocene Louthagam (Kenya). (Mauricio Anton/Wikimedia)
According to lead author Dr. Alberto Valenciano, a paleontologist at the University of Complutense in Spain:
Known material for saber-toothed cats from Langebaanweg was relatively poor and the importance of these creatures is not fully recognized. Our analysis of phylogeny is the first to take into account Langebaanweg species.
Valenciano’s team classified the physical characteristics of each species, such as the shape of the jaw and skull and the structure of the teeth, to build a family tree for saber-toothed cats in the region. Evolutionary links between ancient species are evidence of increased global temperatures and environmental changes during the Pliocene.
From the study: A map showing the distribution of saber-toothed cats in Africa during the Miocene and Pliocene. (Jiangzhou et al. / iScience)
The saber-toothed feline family machairodontini taller and better adapted to grasslands. the MetaluriniOn the other hand, they tend to be smaller and more adapted to covered habitats. The presence of species from both families in Langebaanweg indicates that the area had both open grassland and woodland habitats 5.2 million years ago.
Valenciano and colleagues also noted similarities between the saber-toothed feline species found in Langebaanweg and those in the province of yuan, In China. In fact, they suggest that the Longchuansmilus From Yuanmou can be closely related to Lokotunjailurus.
For Qigao Jiangzuo, professor at Peking University and first author of the study:
This indicates that the ancient environment of the two regions was similar or that there is a possible migration route between Langebaanweg and Yuanmou.
As Africa dried up, forest areas disappeared. This same evolutionary pressure would have given the necessary impetus to the emergence of the first Hominids.
Study published in iScience: The Sabertooth Syndicate at Langebaanweg reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae).
