Megantereon ( Latin Megantereon , from ancient Greek έ έ θ ε θ θ θ большой большой большой большой - θ θ θ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -) is a genus of saber-toothed cats that lived from the Early Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene in North America , Africa and Eurasia . Presumably, he was an ancestor of Smilodon .
| † Megantereon |
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| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetric |
| Nadotryad : | Laurasiotherium |
| Subfamily : | † saber-toothed cats |
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| International Scientific Name |
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Megantereon Croizet & Jobert, 1828 |
| Kinds |
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- Megantereon cultridens (Cuvier, 1824)
- Megantereon ekidoit
Werdelin & Lewis, 2000 - Megantereon eurynodon Ewer, 1955
- Megantereon falconeri Pomel, 1853
- Megantereon gracilis
Broom & Schepers, 1946 - Megantereon hesperus (Gazin, 1933)
- Megantereon inexpectatus
Teilhard de Chardin, 1939 - Megantereon megantereon
Croizet & Jobert, 1828 - Megantereon nihowanensis
Teilhard de Chardin, 1930 - Megantereon spiryleris
- Megantereon vakhshensis
- Megantereon whitei Broom, 1937
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Geochronology4.5-1.5 million years | million years | The epoch | Pd | Era |
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| | Th | TO
but
th
n
about
s
about
th | | 2.588 | | | 5.33 | Pliocene | H
e
about
g
e
n | | 23.03 | Miocene | | 33.9 | Oligocene | P
but
l
e
about
g
e
n | | 55,8 | Eocene | | 65.5 | Paleocene | | 251 | Mesozoic |
◄ Nowadays◄ Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction |
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Content
Skeletons of megantereons were found in North America, North Africa and Eurasia. The most ancient remains were found in North America. They are about 4.5 million years old. The remains of 3–3.5 million years old were found in Africa [1] , and the remains of 2–2.5 million years old were found in Eurasia. However, in the territory of Chad and Kenya , the remains of an undetermined animal, presumably Megantereon, aged from 5.7 to 7 million years were found. If these assumptions are correct, then meganthereon appeared in Africa in the Late Miocene [2] . The youngest skeleton, 1.5 million years old, was found in East Africa . However, an absolutely complete skeleton was found only in France [3] .
Megantereon was about the size of a large leopard and about 70-75 cm tall in the shoulders with very massive forelimbs and claws, commensurate with the lion. Their physical proportions imply that they were capable of holding fairly large prey. However, the means of killing them prey are still unclear - unlike those with moderately long, conical upper and lower canines of modern cats, the megantereon had long, flattened lateral upper canines, whose rear part was not serrated, like most saber-toothed cats , and relatively small bottom.
Megantereon was carnivorous and hunted in Europe for large hoofed horses , horses , young rhinos and elephants [4] .
Megantereon was portrayed in the Discovery Channel TV series “Before we ruled the Earth” as a night predator hunting Homo ergaster .
- ↑ Lewis, Margaret E .; Werdelin, Lars. Carnivora From the South Turkwel Hominid Site, Northern Kenya (Eng.) // Journal of Paleontology : journal. - Paleontological Society , 2000. - November ( vol. 74 , no. 6 ). - P. 1173 .
- ↑ De Bonis, L., Peigne, S., Mackaye, HT, Likius, A., Vignaud, P., Brunet, M. (2010). New Saber-toothed Cats in the Late Miocene of Toros Menalla (Chad). Systematic palaeontology (Vertebrate palaeontology) Comptes Rendus Palevol 9, 221–227.
- ↑ Bjorn Kurten. Pleistocene Mammals of Europe. - Transaction Publishers, 1968. - P. 76.
- ↑ Per Christiansen, Jan S. Adolfssen. Osteology and ecology of Megantereon cultridens SE311 (Mammalia; Felidae; Machairodontinae), a sabrecat from the Late Pliocene - Early Pleistocene of Senéze, France . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 151, 833-884. With 29 figures.
