Eucyon khoikhoisp. nov. (Carnivora: Canidae) from Langebaanweg ‘E’ Quarry (early Pliocene, South Africa): the most complete African canini from the Mio-Pliocene

Abstract

A new medium-sized canid, Eucyon khoikhoi sp. nov., is described from the early Pliocene site of Langebaanweg ‘E’ Quarry (South Africa). It possesses a robust dentition with large upper- and lower-second molars, an m1 talonid without a transverse cristid between the entoconid and the hypoconid, and a well-developed hypoconulid shelf. Our cladistic analysis of the earliest better-known African canini, places E. khoikhoi as the most basal taxon of an African clade composed of E. wokari, ?Nyctereutes barryi, ?Schaeffia mohibi and Schaeffia adusta (living side-striped jackal). We suggest an alternative arrangement for the poorly known East African E. intrepidus from the Late Miocene and E. kuta from the Middle Pliocene. Eucyon intrepidus could belong to the same clade as E. khoikhoi, unlike E. kuta, whose dentition suggests a closer relation with the Lupulella group. Thus, these results support the paraphyly of Eucyon, demonstrating the need for an in-depth review of the genus. Eucyon khoikhoi has a body mass comparable to E. kuta and the European E. debonisi and E. monticinensis. We conclude that E. khoikhoi may have had a comparable role in the ecosystem to the extant hypocarnivorous S. adusta.

Taxonomic and palaeobiological implications of a large, pathological sabretooth (Carnivora, Felidae, Machairodontinae) from the Lower Pliocene of South Africa

“…2013; Valenciano & Govender 2020 a , b ; Valenciano et al . 2022; Nacarino‐Meneses & Chinsamy 2021). Many of the LBW fossil specimens represent the first and/or last appearance of their respective taxa in the fossil record, and the site has been fundamental for a better understanding of the ecology and geology of the Western Cape during the Miocene and Early Pliocene (Franz‐Odendaal et al .…”

First digital study of the frontal sinus of stem-Canini (Canidae, Carnivora): evolutionary and ecological insights throughout advanced diagnostic in paleobiology

“…(as expressed in the text) we reported only their chronological and geographic distribution. Data are taken from: Tedford and Qiu (1996), Sotnikova (2006), Rook (2006), De Bonis et al (2007), Montoya et al (2009), Rook (2009), Tedford et al (2009), Werdelin et al (2015), Bartolini-Lucenti and Rook (2021), Valenciano et al (2022). 'Eucyon event' is taken from Sotnikova and Rook (2010).…”

Towards resolving taxonomic uncertainties in wolf, dog and jackal lineages of Africa, Eurasia and Australasia

“…It has been suggested that L. mesomelas may actually consist of two species occupying southern ( L. mesomelas ) and eastern Africa ( L. schmitzii ), respectively, as sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (Atickem et al., 2017), supported by non‐overlapping morphology based on geometric morphometric analyses of skulls (Machado & Teta, 2020), suggest these two geographically separate populations are discrete lineages that diverged more than two million years ago (Atickem et al., 2017). It has also been suggested based on paleontological and mitochondrial DNA sequences that L. adusta and L. mesomelas represent independent lineages warranting a monotypic genus for each species, that is Schaeffia adusta and Lupulella mesomelas , respectively (Atickem et al., 2017; Valenciano et al., 2021; Van den Brink, 1973; Zrzavý et al., 2018) although based on current evidence that they are sister lineages and nuclear data, we do not support this distinction and recommend further research using whole‐genome sequences.…”