New Amphicyonids (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Moghra, Early Miocene, Egypt
Author
Morlo, Michael
Author
Miller, Ellen R.
Author
Bastl, Katharina
Author
Abdelgawad, Mohamed K.
Author
Hamdan, Mohammed
Author
El-Barkooky, Ahmed N.
Author
Nagel, Doris
text
Geodiversitas
2019
2019-11-07
41
21
731
745
journal article
10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a21
5687d3cd-124a-450f-9e42-6272f23a94b4
1638-9395
3695843
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F2985B60-626C-4FF6-8C0F-C62C34531199
Genus
Cynelos
Jourdan, 1862
TYPE
SPECIES. —
C. lemanensis
(
Pomel, 1846
), subsequent designation by
Jourdan (1862)
.
DIAGNOSIS. — Emended after
Peigné & Heizmann (2003)
,
Werdelin & Peigné (2010)
: small to large sized amphicyonids with low, slender mandibles; diastemata between anterior premolars; premolars widest distally; p4 with strong postprotocuspid; the p4 is larger in relation to m1 and to m2 than in
Amphicyon
, the tip of the main cusp of p4 does not project posteriorly, and the p4 talonid is wider; m1 with low metaconid and tall hypoconid crest, entoconid crest distinct but low, talonid wider than trigonid; m2 mesiodistal length about two thirds the length of m1, m2 lacking the paraconid, with a long and wide talonid, protoconid lacking a distal crest; m3 single-rooted and not double rooted as in
Afrocyon
, P4 with small protocone, M1 rectangular, M2 slightly more reduced than M1, with paracone slightly larger than metacone, and v-shaped hypocone crests in African specimens.
REFERRED AFRICAN SPECIES. —
Cynelos anubisi
n. sp.
, from Moghra (includes “
Amphicyon
sp.” in
Morales
et al.
2010
: fig. 4),
Cynelos
euryodon
(
Savage, 1965
),
Cynelos ginsburgi
(
Morales, Pickford, Soria & Fraile, 1998
)
n. comb.
,
Cynelos
macrodon
(
Savage, 1965
),
Cynelos
minor
(Morales & Pickford, 2008),
Cynelos
sp. from Buluk,
Kenya
(KM WS 12663,
Anemone
et al.
2005
).
REMARKS
Cynelos
is a widespread genus of amphicyonid carnivoran known from the late Oligocene through Early Miocene of Africa (
Hooijer 1963
;
Werdelin & Peigné 2010
) and Europe (
Peigné & Heizmann 2003
), Early to Middle Miocene of North America (
Hunt 1998
;
Hunt & Stepleton 2015
), and the Middle Miocene of Asia (
Jiangzuo
et al.
2018
). North American and European members are well known (e.g.,
Viranta 1996
;
Hunt 1998
;
Peigné & Heizmann 2003
;
Hunt & Stepleton 2015
), and the Asian material was recently reviewed (
Jiangzuo
et al.
2018
). Individual species representing the African record of the genus have been discussed by several authors (e.g., Morales & Pickford 2005, 2008;
Morlo
et al.
2007
;
Morales
et al.
1998
,
2003
, 2008, 2010;
Adrian
et al.
2018
), with overviews given in
Werdelin & Peigné (2010)
and
Morales
et al.
(2016)
.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
EED887B0-9F1C-4ADD-B4CF-7E8BBEB7514D
Savage (1965)
described two amphicyonids, a small species,
Hecubides euryodon
Savage, 1965
from Napak-I in
Uganda
, and a large one,
Hecubides macrodon
Savage, 1965
, from Rusinga Island,
Kenya
.
Hecubides
Savage, 1965
was later included in
Cynelos
(
Ginsburg 1980
)
, a decision followed by nearly all researchers (e.g., Schmidt-Kittler 1987;
Morales
et al.
1998
;
Pickford
et al.
2003
;
Peigné & Heizmann 2003
;
Peigné
et al.
2006a
, b;
Morlo
et al.
2007
;
Werdelin & Simpson 2009
;
Werdelin & Peigné 2010
;
Leakey
et al.
2011
;
Hunt & Stepleton 2015
;
Jiangzuo
et al.
2018
;
Adrian
et al.
2018
). One exception to this is the work of Morales and colleagues (Morales & Pickford 2005;
Morales
et al.
2007
, 2008, 2010, 2016), who emphasized differences between
H. euryodon
and the
type
species of
Cynelos
,
C
.
lemanensis
(
Morales
et al.
2016
). However, as
Jiangzuo
et al.
(2018)
discussed, the features cited in favor of retaining the name
Hecubides
(
Morales
et al.
2016
) can be regarded as intrageneric if other species of
Cynelos
are considered. Here we follow the majority of authors in recognizing
Hecubides
as a junior synonym of
Cynelos
.
Despite acknowledging the close morphological relationship between “
Hecubides
”,
Cynelos
macrodon
, and “
Cynelos
sp. nov.” from Moghra (
Morlo
et al.
2007
),
Morales
et al.
(2016)
moved these large
Cynelos
species from the genus
Hecubides/
Cynelos
to
Afrocyon
, a monotypic taxon erected on the basis of a partial mandible from the Early Miocene of Gebel Zelten in
Libya
(
Arambourg 1961
). This assignment effectively promoted the view that
Cynelos
was a taxon restricted to northern continents, and that all Early Miocene African amphicyonids belong to either the small
Hecubides
or the large
Afrocyon
, with the exception of
Amphicyon giganteus
from Arrisdrift,
Namibia
. Recently,
Adrian
et al.
(2018)
described new Early Miocene material from Kalodirr,
Kenya
, and attributed it to
C. macrodon
, although without mentioning the previous allocation of
Cynelos
to the North African taxon
Afrocyon
. Here we follow
Adrian
et al.
(2018)
and discuss clear differences between
Cynelos
and
Afrocyon
, which unite
C. macrodon
with
C. lemanensis
,
C. euryodon
and other African specimens. Consequently, we not only re-establish the occurrence of
Cynelos
in Africa, but also recognize six African species in the genus: small
C. euryodon
and
C. minor
, large
C. macrodon
,
C. ginsburgi
n. comb.
,
Cynelos anubisi
n. sp.
from Moghra, and a very large species from Buluk,
Kenya
.