Evolution of European carnivorous mammal assemblages through the Palaeogene

Abstract

The rise of Carnivora (Mammalia: Laurasiatheria) is an important evolutionary event that changed the structure of terrestrial ecosystems, starting at the dawn of the Eocene, 56 Mya. This radiation has been mainly analysed in North America, leaving the evolution of carnivoran diversity in other regions of the globe poorly known. To tackle this issue, we review the evolution of terrestrial carnivorous mammal diversity (Mesonychidae, Oxyaenidae, Hyaenodonta and Carnivoramorpha) in Europe. We reveal four episodes of intense faunal turnovers that helped establish the dominance of carnivoramorphans over their main competitors. We also identify two periods of general endemism. The remaining time intervals are characterized by dispersals of new taxa from North America, Asia and Africa. The European Palaeogene carnivorous mammal fauna appears to have been almost constantly in a transient state, strongly influenced by dispersals. Many of the bioevents we highlight for European carnivorous mammals are probably best seen as ecosystem-wide responses to environmental changes. In contrast to the North American record, European hyaenodonts remain more diverse than the carnivoramorphans for the entire Eocene. The replacement of hyaenodonts by carnivoramorphans as the most diverse and dominant predators only occurred after the ‘Grande Coupure’ at 33 Mya, about 16 Myr later than in North America.

New early aeluroid carnivoran (Mammalia, Carnivora, Feliformia) from the classical palaeontological locality Valeč, the Czech Republic

“…On the other hand, all the available evidence, though indirect, supports an early Oligocene age for this specimen. This interpretation is also supported by the fact that no positive evidence of feliformians has been recorded in Europe before the Oligocene (Solé et al 2022).…”

“…The former are very different from the Valeč hemimandible in the structure of the lower molars, whose size increases from m1 to m3. The Valeč hemimandible belongs to the latter, and more precisely to the Carnivoraformes and the clade Carnivora (see Solé et al 2014, 2022). Viverravidae, present in Europe in early Eocene, differ from Carnivoraformes (and therefore also from Fejfarictis n. gen.), among others, in the morphology of m2 with elongated talonid and enlarged hypoconulid (Flynn et al 2010: 37).…”

“…The type and only species of Simamphicyon , S. helveticus (Pictet & Humbert, 1869) is far larger than the Valeč form; it was sometimes considered to be an amphicyonid (see Springhorn 1977), but recently, it was placed into basal carnivoraforms (Tomiya & Tseng 2016; Solé et al 2022). It differs from Fejfarictis n. gen. also by the relatively less elongate p4 and the quite trenchant talonid of m1.…”

“…The “Grande Coupure” (Stehlin 1909) is a milestone separating in time, in Western Europe, the Eocene terrestrial mammalian faunas from the Oligocene ones. Many genera of carnivorans, Caniformia and Feliformia were present among the new migrants (Solé et al 2022 and references therein). In the Caniformia, the Amphicynodontidae were the most abundant.…”

An early nimravid from California and the rise of hypercarnivorous mammals after the middle Eocene climatic optimum

“…The climatically dynamic period from the late middle Eocene to the early Oligocene ( ca 41–30 Ma) saw not only the reorganization of biotas worldwide that is known as the Eocene–Oligocene biotic transition [1] but also the initial rise of members of crown Carnivora and their closest relatives as hypercarnivores [2,3]. The early nimravids joined the Hyaenodonta in this specialized niche, which carnivorans would later occupy alone until the present day.…”