Vulpes skinneri
| Vulpes skinneri | ||||||||||||
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Vulpes skinneri |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Pleistocene | ||||||||||||
| 1.977 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Vulpes skinneri | ||||||||||||
| Hartstone-Rose et al., 2013 |
Vulpes skinneri is an extinct species of the real fox . It lived around 2 million years ago in the early Pleistocene in what is now South Africa and was similar in size to the Cape fox . The remains of Vulpes skinneri comprise a few bone fragments and come from the Malapa Cave in northern South Africa. They show the typical morphology of the genus Vulpes , which suggests that Vulpes skinneri probably had a similar way of life.
The species was described in 2013 by a group of paleontologists led by Adam Hartstone-Rose . Their position within the genus Vulpes is unclear.
features
On the basis of the bone material obtained, little can be said about the appearance of Vulpes skinneri . The rear part of the jaw has dimensions similar to that of the Cape fox . The proportions of the dentition, however, are much more similar to those of the Fennec , although V. skinneri was significantly larger.
Of the teeth, only the fourth lower premolar, the first and second lower molar and the bases of the second and third molars of the lower jaw are known. As in most other dogs of this size, the premolar does not have a mesial sinus hump. It has a clear, sharp postcingulid , but unlike all other known small canids, it has no distal side hump. The first molar appears compressed lengthways and therefore very high. Meta- and paraconid were probably the same height. The hypoconid just exceeds the entoconid and stands close to a hypoconulid. The latter, in turn, stands out clearly from the entoconide. The second lower molar has four cusps and a cingulum that bulges strongly outward on the cheek side. The trigonid is therefore wider than the talonid. Protocionid and metaconid are roughly the same. The entoconid is slightly higher than the hypoconid, with which it is connected by a prominent postentoconulid. In addition, V. skinneri had no cingulides or cuspulids on the lower second molar.
Site, fossil material and stratigraphy
The remains of Vulpes skinneri were among the first bones to be found in the South African Malapa Cave after its discovery in 2008. The known finds are the rear fraction of a left lower jaw, a left second molar, which probably originates from this lower jaw, and a left rib. The period of deposition of the bones in the Malapa Cave is dated to the early Pleistocene (1,977 mya ).
ecology
Little is known about the habitat of Vulpes skinneri . It was probably wooded during his lifetime. The species apparently shared its habitat with other animals found in the Malapa cave, such as Australopithecus sediba , Dinofelis barlowi , leopards ( Panthera pardus ), black-footed cats ( Felis nigripes ) and black-footed hyenas ( Parahyaena brunnea ).
Systematics
The bones assigned today to Vulpes skinneri were initially placed near the Cape fox as Vulpes cf. chama . A detailed comparison of the tooth material with other fox species led Adam Hartstone-Rose , Brian F. Kuhn , Shahed Nalla , Lars Werdelin and Lee R. Berger to the conclusion that it must be a separate species of the genus Vulpes . In memory of John Dawson Skinner and his research into the African mammal fauna, they chose skinneri as a specific epithet . Beyond belonging to Vulpes , they did not meet any closer systematic classification of the species.
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literature
- Adam Hartstone-Rose, Brian F. Kuhn, Shahed Nalla, Lars Werdelin, Lee R. Berger: A New Species of Fox from the Australopithecus sediba Type Locality, Malapa, South Africa . In: Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa . 2013, p. 1–9 , doi : 10.1080 / 0035919X.2012.748698 .