Megantereon: Difference between revisions – Wikipedia

 

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*”M. gracile” {{small|Broom, 1948}}

*”M. gracile” {{small|Broom, 1948}}

*”M. eurynodon” {{small|Ewer, 1955}}

*”M. eurynodon” {{small|Ewer, 1955}}

| synonym_refs={{Cite book|title=Smilodon: The Iconic Sabertooth|last1= Werdelin|first1=Lars|last2=Flink|first2=Therese|chapter=Chapter 2: The Phylogenetic Context of ”Smilodon”|year=2018}}

| ={{Cite book|title=Smilodon: The Iconic Sabertooth|last1= Werdelin|first1=Lars|last2=Flink|first2=Therese|chapter=Chapter 2: The Phylogenetic Context of ”Smilodon”|year=2018}}

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Extinct genus of saber-toothed cat from North America, Eurasia and Africa

Megantereon Temporal range: Late Miocene–Middle Pleistocene
M. cultridens skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	†Machairodontinae
Tribe:	†Smilodontini
Genus:	†Megantereon Croizet & Jobert, 1828
Type species
Megantereon cultridens (Cuvier, 1824)
Other species
†M. adroveri Pons Moya, 1987 †M. ekidoit Werdelin & Lewis, 2000 †M. falconeri Pomel, 1853 †M. hesperus Gazin, 1933 †M. microta Zhu et al., 2015 †M. vakshensis Sharapov, 1986 †M. whitei Broom, 1937
Synonyms
M. cultridens M. megantereon Croizet & Jobert, 1828 Felis megantereon Bravard, 1828 M. macroscelis Pomel, 1853 M. falconeri M. nihowanensis Tielhard de Chardin & Piveteau, 1930 M. inexpectatus Tielhard de Chardin, 1939 M. lantianensis Hu & Qi, 1978 M. whitei M. gracile Broom, 1948 M. eurynodon Ewer, 1955

Megantereon was a genus of prehistoric machairodontine saber-toothed cat that lived in North America, Eurasia, and Africa. It is closely related to and possibly the ancestor of Smilodon.

Taxonomy[edit]

Fossil fragments have been found in Africa, Eurasia and North America. The animal also ranged into southernmost China, as a mostly complete skull from Sabretooth Cave in Chongzuo indicates, though it seemed to have been rare in most of Asia because it was ill-adapted to closed forest environments.^[2] The oldest confirmed samples of Megantereon are known from the Pliocene of North America and are dated to about 4.5 million years. Samples from Africa are dated to about 3–3.5 million years (for example, in Kenya^[3]), samples from Asia to about 2.5 to 2 million years. In Europe, the oldest remains are known from Les Etouaries (France), a site which is now dated to less than 2.5 million years. A North American origin of Megantereon has therefore been suggested. However, recent fragmentary fossils found in Kenya and Chad, which date to about 5.7 and 7 million years, are probably from Megantereon. If these identifications are correct, they would represent the oldest Megantereon fossils in the world. The new findings therefore indicate an origin of Megantereon in the Late Miocene of Africa.^[4]

The true number of species may be less than the full list of described species reproduced below:^[5]

• Megantereon cultridens (Cuvier, 1824) (type species)
• Megantereon adroveri Pons Moya, 1987
• Megantereon ekidoit Werdelin & Lewis, 2000
• Megantereon falconeri Pomel, 1853
• Megantereon hesperus (Gazin, 1933)
• Megantereon microta Zhu et al., 2015^[6]
• Megantereon vakhshensis Sarapov, 1986^[7]
• Megantereon whitei Broom, 1937

In 2022, it was proposed, alongside a description of more material, that more Asian species than just M. falconeri: M. nihowanensis, M. inexpectatus (syn. M. lantianensis), and M. megantereon (syn. M. microta) existed. The authors disregarded M. falconeri, however, because of the poor record for that species, and also noted that two specimens – a skull in the Natural History Museum of London and a skull in a museum in Dublin – likely represented a new species (which had been previously noted by other authors).^[8][9]

Evolution[edit]

At the end of the Pliocene, the animal evolved into the larger Smilodon in North America, while it survived in the Old World until the middle Pleistocene. The youngest remains of Megantereon from east Africa are dated at about 1.5 million years. In southern Africa, the genus is recorded from Elandsfontein, a site with remains dated to around 700,000–400,000 years. Remains from Untermaßfeld show that Megantereon lived until 900,000 years ago in Europe. In Asia, it may have survived until 500,000 years ago, as it is recorded together with Homo erectus at the famous site of Zhoukoudian in China. The only full skeleton was found in Senéze, France.^{[citation needed]}

Description[edit]

Megantereon was built like a large modern jaguar, but somewhat heavier. It had stocky forelimbs, the lower half of these forelimbs being lion-sized. It had large neck…