Pachycrocuta

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Pachycrocuta
Live reconstruction of a Pachycrocuta in the Hungarian Natural Science Museum

Live reconstruction of a Pachycrocuta
in the Hungarian Natural Science Museum

Temporal occurrence
Upper Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene
3 million years to 500,000 years
Locations
Systematics
Laurasiatheria
Predators (Carnivora)
Feline (Feliformia)
Hyenas (Hyaenidae)
Actual hyenas (Hyaeninae)
Pachycrocuta
Scientific name
Pachycrocuta
Kretzoi , 1938

Pachycrocuta is an extinct genus of hyena thatlived in Africa and Eurasiaduring the Pliocene and Pleistocene . It is considered the largest genus of hyenas that ever existed. Originally, these large hyenas were assigned to the genus Hyaena , which includes today's brown hyenas and striped hyenas .

features

With a shoulder height of about one meter in Pachycrocuta brevirostris , this huge hyena almost reached the size of a lion. The weight is estimated at 113 kg or even more. Overall, it was very similar to today's hyenas with its large skull, sloping back line and long muscular neck. The head-torso length was around 1.5 m.

Types and distribution

Pachycrocuta is known from Africa, Europe and Asia. In Asia it occurred as far as Java and as far as northern China, where particularly well-preserved remains of the species Pachycrocuta brevirostris were found at the Zhoukodian site near Beijing . In Europe, the genus with Pachycrocuta pyrenaica , which was first described in southern France, has occurred since the early Miocene. Its forerunner was probably a close relative of the genus Hyaenictitherium . During the Pliocene, around 3.2 million years ago, this form was replaced here by the more modern species Pachycrocuta perrieri . In the late Pliocene, this was replaced by the largest known species Pachycrocuta brevirostris .

Pachycrocuta first appeared in Africa in the later Pliocene around 3 million years ago and survived here until the early Pleistocene. In Eurasia, the genus is proven up to 500,000 years ago, that is, in the middle Pleistocene. According to other sources, Pachycrocuta brevirostris survived in southern China into the late Pleistocene. The extinction of the species is associated with the extinction of large saber-toothed cats such as the genus Homotherium , since with the lack of large predators, large carcasses also disappeared as a source of food.

swell

  • Jordi Augusti, Mauricio Antón: Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids. 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. Columbia University Press, New York NY et al. 2002, ISBN 0-231-11640-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alan Turner & Mauricio Antón: Evolving Eden. An Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large-Mammal Fauna . Columbia University Press, New York, 2004. ISBN 0-231-11944-5
  2. ^ Alan Turner: Prehistoric Mammals . National Geographic, Firecrest Books Ltd. 2004.
  3. ^ Paul S. Martin: Quaternary Extinctions . The University of Arizona Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8165-1100-4
  4. ^ Alan Turner & Mauricio Antón (1996): The giant hyaena Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Mammalia, Carnivora, Hyaenidae). Geobios 29 (4): 455-468, doi : 10.1016 / S0016-6995 (96) 80005-2 .
  5. ^ J. Louys: Characteristics of Pleistocene of Pleistocene megafauna extinctions in Southeast Asia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 243 (2007) 152-173.
  6. ^ Turner / Antón, The Big Cats and their fossil relatives, p. 209.

Web links

Commons : Pachycrocuta  - collection of images, videos and audio files