Chasmaporthetes

Chasmaporthetes
Chasmaporthetes
Temporal range: Late Miocene–Late Pleistocene
Chasmaportethes lunensis jaw
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Hyaenidae
Genus: †Chasmaporthetes
Hay, 1921
  • Chasmaporthetes lunensis Del Campana, 1914
  • Chasmaporthetes ossifragus Hay, 1921
  • Chasmaporthetes honanensis Zdansky, 1924
  • Chasmaporthetes borissiaki Khomenko, 1932
  • Chasmaporthetes australis Hendey, 1974
  • Chasmaporthetes exitelus Kurtén & Werdelin, 1988

Chasmaporthetes, also known as Hunting or Running Hyena, is an extinct genus of hyena endemic to North America, Africa, and Asia during the Pliocene-Pleistocene epochs, living from 4.9 mya—780,000 years ago, existing for approximately 4.12 million years.[1] The genus probably arose from Eurasian Miocene hyenas such as Thalassictis or Lycyaena, with C. borissiaki being the oldest known representative.[2] The species C. ossifragus was the only hyena to cross the Bering land bridge into the Americas, and ranged over what is now Arizona and Mexico during Blancan and early Irvingtonian Land Mammal Ages, between 5 to 1.5 million years ago.[2][3]

Chasmaporthetes was one of the so called "dog-like" hyenas (of which the aardwolf is the only survivor), a hyaenid group which, in contrast to the now more common "bone-crushing" hyenas, evolved into slender limbed cursorial hunters like modern canids.[3]

The genus has entered the popular culture lexicon as a result of cryptozoologic claims, having been proposed as the likely origin of the American Shunka Warakin and the Cuitlamiztli.[4]

Contents

Taxonomy and etymology

Chasmaporthetes was named by Hay (1921). Its type is Chasmaporthetes ossifragus. It was assigned to Hyaenidae by Hay (1921), Geraads (1997) and Flynn (1998).[5][6][7]

Its name means "he who saw the canyon", referring to the fact that it was the only one of its kind to cross the Bering land bridge.[3]

Anatomy and paleoecology

The limb bones of Chasmaporthetes were long and slender like those of cheetahs, and its cheek teeth were slender and sharp-edged like those of a cat. It is likely that Chasmaporthetes inhabited open ground and was a daytime hunter. In Europe, the species C. lunensis competed with the giant cheetah Acinonyx pardinensis, and may have preyed on the small bourbon gazelle (Gazella borbonica) and the chamois antelope (Procamptoceras brivatense).[8] The North American C. ossifragus was similar in build to C. lunensis, but had slightly more robust jaws and teeth. It may have preyed on the giant marmot Paenemarmota,[2] and competed with the far more numerous Borophagus diversidens.[9] A study on the genus' premolar intercuspid notches indicate that Chasmaporthetes was likely hypercarnivorous rather than durophagus as its modern cousins (excluding the aardwolf) are.[10]

References

  1. ^ PaleoBiology Database: Chasmaporthetes, basic info
  2. ^ a b c Kurtén, Björn (1980) Pleistocene mammals of North America, p. 199, Columbia University Press, 1980, ISBN 0231037333
  3. ^ a b c Macdonald, David (1992) The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores, p. 119-144, New York: Parkwest, ISBN 0563208449
  4. ^ Erberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 1576072835
  5. ^ O. P. Hay. 1921. Descriptions of species of Pleistocene Vertebrata, types or specimens of most of which are preserved in the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 59:599-642
  6. ^ D. Geraads. 1997. Carnivores du Pliocene terminal de Ahl al Oughlam (Casablanca, Maroc). Géobios 30(1):127-164
  7. ^ J. J. Flynn. 1998. Early Cenozoic Carnivora ("Miacoidea"). In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1:110-123
  8. ^ Kurtén, Björn (1968) Pleistocene mammals of Europe, p. 68-69, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968
  9. ^ Wang, Xiaoming & Tedford, Richard H. (2008) Dogs: their fossil relatives and evolutionary history Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231135289
  10. ^ A. Hartstone-Rose (2011) Reconstructing the diets of extinct South African carnivorans from premolar ‘intercuspid notch’ morphology, Journal of Zoology, Vol. 284 Issue 2

External links

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