Percrocutidae Explained
Percrocutidae is an extinct family of hyena-like feliform carnivores endemic to Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe from the Middle Miocene through the Pliocene, existing for about .[1]
The first percrocutids are known from the middle Miocene of Europe and western Asia and belonged to the genus Percrocuta. Percrocuta already had large premolars, but did not carry such a massive bite as the later form Dinocrocuta, from the later Miocene.[2] Originally, these carnivores were placed with the hyenas in the family Hyaenidae., most scientists considered the Percrocutidae to be a distinct family - although usually as sister-taxa/immediate outgroup to Hyaenidae.[3] Sometimes it was placed with the family Stenoplesictidae into the superfamily Stenoplesictoidea. However, studies in the 2020s placed Dinocrocuta and Percrocuta as true hyaenids, invalidating the family Percrocutidae.[4]
Taxonomy & Evolution
Taxonomic History
Percrocuta was first considered as a side-branch outside of Hyaenidae by Thenius in 1966.[5] It was later named as a different subfamily, Percrocutinae, of Hyaenidae in 1976, and at that time was proposed to include Percrocuta, Adcrocuta eximia, and Allohyaena kadici.[6] Dinocrocuta was elevated from a subgenus to a full genus in 1988.[7]
The family Percrocutidae was formally elevated in 1991, to include the genera Percrocuta, Dinocrocuta, Belbus and Allohyaena.[8]
Later studies have suggested that Belbus and Allohyaena are true hyaenids and not percrocutids.[9]
Classification
Family | Image | Genus | Species |
---|
†Percrocutidae | | †Dinocrocuta | - †D. algeriensis
- †D. gigantea
- †D. salonicae
- †D. senyureki
|
---|
| †Percrocuta | - †P. abessalomi
- †P. carnifex
- †P. grandis
- †P. leakeyi
- †P. miocenica
- †P. tobieni
- †P. tungurensis
- †P. xixiaensis
| |
The list follows McKenna and Bell's Classification of Mammals for prehistoric genera (1997).[10] In contrast to McKenna and Bell's classification, they are not included as a subfamily into the Hyaenidae but as a separate family Percrocutidae.
References
- Jordi Agustí: Mammoths, Sabertooths and Hominids 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe, Columbia University Press, 2002.
Notes and References
- http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=95348&is_real_user=1 Paleobiology Database: Percrocutidae basic information
- Book: Evolving Eden: An Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large-mammal Fauna . Turner . Alan . Antón . Mauricio . 2004 . Columbia University Press . New York . 0-231-11944-5.
- Figueirido . Borja . Tseng . Zhijie Jack . Martín-Serra . Alberto . 2013 . Skull Shape Evolution in Durophagous Carnivorans . Evolution . 67 . 7 . 1975–1993 . 10.1111/evo.12059 . 23815654 . 23918004. free .
- Xiong . Wuyang . 2022-05-01 . New species of Percrocuta (Carnivora, Hyaenidae) from the early middle Miocene of Tongxin, China . Historical Biology . 35 . 5 . 799–820 . 10.1080/08912963.2022.2067757 . 248627038 . 0891-2963.
- Thenius . E. . 1966 . Zur Stammesgeschichte der Hyänen (Carnivora, Mammalia) . Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde . 31 . 4 . 292–300 .
- Schmidt-Kittler . N. . 1976 . Raubtiere aus dem Jungtertiär Kleinasiens . Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 155 . 1–4 . 1–131 .
- Qiu . ZX . Xie . JY . Yan . DF . 1988 . Discovery of the skull of Dinocrocuta gigantea. Vertebrata PalAsiatica . 26 . 2 . 128–138 .
- Werdelin . L . Solounias . N . 1991 . The Hyaenidae: taxonomy, systematics and evolution. Fossils and Strata . 30 . 1–104 . 10.18261/8200374815-1991-01. 8200374815 .
- Lars Werdelin . Björn Kürten . Allohyaena (Mammalia: Carnivora): giant hyaenid from the Late Miocene of Hungary . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 1999 . 126 . 3 . 319–334 . 10.1111/j.1096-3642.1999.tb01374.x. free .
- Malcolm C. McKenna, Susan K. Bell: in Columbia University Press, New York 1997, 631 Seiten,