Miomachairodus Explained

Miomachairodus is an extinct genus of large machairodontine (saber-toothed cat) containing only a single species, Miomachairodus pseudailuroides. It is mainly known from Middle Miocene-age fossils in Turkey and persisted until the early Late Miocene (Vallesian).[1] Fossils of this machairodont have been found in the Vallesian-age Bahe Formation in Shaanxi, China, and Yeni Eskihisar in Anatolia. This Turkish site is of Miocene age and is well known for its pollen studies.[2]

History and naming

The genus was first named by paleontologist Norbert Schmidt-Kittler in 1976 based on the holotype, a partial skull from Akçaköy, Eşme District, Turkey, and a second specimen, a lower jaw from Yeni Eskihisar. The generic name Miomachairodus is a combination of Mio, referring to the Miocene when it lived, and Machairodus; the specific name pseudailuroides means "like Pseudaelurus".[3]

In 2022, material from the Guanigou fauna in the Linxia Basin was described as Miomachairodus sp., and the authors suggested that it represented a new species of Miomachairodus. The fossil, a partial maxilla from the early Late Miocene (early Bahean), represented the oldest known machairodontine in Asia. They refrained from definitively naming the species because it lacked the fourth premolar.[4] The fossil material had previously been assigned to Machairodus palanderi in 2013.[5]

Description

The Miomachairodus sp. from the Linxia Basin is known only from a single fossil (HMV2039), a partial maxilla with the first, second, and third incisors, the canine, and the third premolar present, as well as the alveolus of the second premolar and a broken fourth premolar. The incisors are small and the canine tooth has "distinct but small" serrations. It was distinguished from M. pseudailuroides by having a shorter diastema between the canine and third premolar, and in the differing morphology of the third premolar. The describing paper estimated it was a large carnivoran that weighed more than .[4]

Classification

A 2018 phylogenetic analysis recovered Miomachairodus pseudailuroides as basal to most of the rest of Machairodontinae.[6]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Qiu, Z.. Lindsay, H.E.. Fahlbusch, V.. Mein, P.. 1990. The Chinese Neogene Mammalian Biochronology — Its Correlation with the European Neogene Mammalian Zonation. European Neogene Mammal Chronology. Plenum Press. 527–556. 10.1007/978-1-4899-2513-8_32.
  2. Book: Fortelius, Mikael. Geology and paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey.
  3. Schmidt-Kittler . Norbert . Raubtiere aus dem Jungtertiär Kleinasiens . Carnivores from the Late Tertiary of Asia Minor . German . Palaeontographica Abteilung A . 155 . 1976 . 107–113 .
  4. Chronological framework and palaeoecology of Carnivora from the Linxia Basin, China . 10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111463 . 2023 . Jiangzuo . Qigao . Wang . Shiqi . Deng . Tao . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 615 . 111463 . 2023PPP...61511463J . 257061069 .
  5. Deng, T., Hou, S. K., Xie, G. P., Wang, S. Q., Shi, Q. Q., Chen, S. K., ... & Lu, X. K. . 2013 . Chronostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of the Upper Miocene of the Linxia Basin in Gansu, China . Journal of Stratigraphy . 37 . 417–427.
  6. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.034 . Evolution of the sabertooth mandible: A deadly ecomorphological specialization . 2018 . Piras . Paolo . Silvestro . Daniele . Carotenuto . Francesco . Castiglione . Silvia . Kotsakis . Anastassios . Maiorino . Leonardo . Melchionna . Marina . Mondanaro . Alessandro . Sansalone . Gabriele . Serio . Carmela . Vero . Veronica Anna . Raia . Pasquale . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 496 . 166–174 . 2018PPP...496..166P . 2158/1268434 . free .