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'''''Lokotunjailurus''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of [[saber-toothed cat]]s ([[Machairodontinae]]) which existed during the [[Miocene]] [[Epoch (geology)|epoch]] and is known from localities in [[North Africa|northern]], [[East Africa|eastern]] and [[Southern Africa|southern Afrika]].<ref name="werdelin">{{Citation |last=Werdelin |first=Lars |title=Mio-Pliocene Carnivora from Lothagam, Kenya |date=2003-01-23 |work=Mio-Pliocene Carnivora from Lothagam, Kenya |pages=261–328 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/leak11870-013/html |access-date=2024-02-04 |publisher=Columbia University Press |language=de |doi=10.7312/leak11870-013/html |isbn=978-0-231-50760-8}}</ref><ref name=bonis>{{cite journal|title=New sabre-toothed cats in the Late Miocene of Toros Menalla (Chad)|author=Bonis, L.d.|author2=Peigné, S.|author3=Mackaye, H.T.|author4=Likius, A.|author5=Vignaud, P.|author6=Brunet, M.|name-list-style=amp|year=2010|journal=Comptes Rendus Palevol|volume=9|issue=5|pages=221–7|doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2010.07.018|bibcode=2010CRPal...9..221D }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jiangzuo |first=Qigao |last2=Rabe |first2=Caitlin |last3=Abella |first3=Juan |last4=Govender |first4=Romala |last5=Valenciano |first5=Alberto |date=2023-07-20 |title=Langebaanweg’s sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae) |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10440717/ |journal=iScience |volume=26 |issue=8 |pages=107212 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2023.107212 |issn=2589-0042 |pmid=37609637}}</ref> A big cat, it was more slender than comparable recent species and its build suggests [[Cursorial|cursoriality]]. It is grouped among a group of similar-looking saber-toothed cats known as the [[Homotherini|scimitar-tooths]].
'''''Lokotunjailurus''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of [[saber-toothed cat]]s ([[Machairodontinae]]) which existed during the [[late Miocene]] and [[Zanclean|earliest Pliocene]] [[Epoch (geology)|epoch]] and is known from localities in [[North Africa|northern]], [[East Africa|eastern]] and [[Southern Africa|southern Afrika]].<ref name="werdelin">{{Citation |last=Werdelin |first=Lars |title=Mio-Pliocene Carnivora from Lothagam, Kenya |date=2003-01-23 |work=Mio-Pliocene Carnivora from Lothagam, Kenya |pages=261–328 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/leak11870-013/html |access-date=2024-02-04 |publisher=Columbia University Press |language=de |doi=10.7312/leak11870-013/html |isbn=978-0-231-50760-8}}</ref><ref name=bonis>{{cite journal|title=New sabre-toothed cats in the Late Miocene of Toros Menalla (Chad)|author=Bonis, L.d.|author2=Peigné, S.|author3=Mackaye, H.T.|author4=Likius, A.|author5=Vignaud, P.|author6=Brunet, M.|name-list-style=amp|year=2010|journal=Comptes Rendus Palevol|volume=9|issue=5|pages=221–7|doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2010.07.018|bibcode=2010CRPal...9..221D }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Jiangzuo |first=Qigao |last2=Rabe |first2=Caitlin |last3=Abella |first3=Juan |last4=Govender |first4=Romala |last5=Valenciano |first5=Alberto |date=2023-07-20 |title=Langebaanweg’s sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae) |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10440717/ |journal=iScience |volume=26 |issue=8 |pages=107212 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2023.107212 |issn=2589-0042 |pmid=37609637}}</ref> A big cat, it was more slender than comparable recent species and its build suggests [[Cursorial|cursoriality]]. It is grouped among a group of similar-looking saber-toothed cats known as the [[Homotherini|scimitar-tooths]].


==History and taxonomy==
==History and taxonomy==
The type species '''''L. emageritus''''' was documented by [[Lars Werdelin]] based on fossils found at the [[Lothagam]] site in Kenya. He described it as a large [[felid]] with an extremely long claw on one digit. He named the genus from the [[Turkana language|Turkana]] word for "cat" and the species from the word for "claw". Werdelin considered ''L. emageritus'' to be similar to ''[[Homotherium]]'' in [[dentition]] and to represent a basal member of [[Homotherini]].<ref name=werdelin /> More recent studies have since shed more light on its evolution, where ''Lokotunjailurus'' is shown to be [[Sister group|sister]] to a lineage consisting of ''[[Amphimachairodus]]'' and its descendants, including ''Homotherium'', and therefore no immediate relative of the latter.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jiangzuo |first=Qigao |last2=Werdelin |first2=Lars |last3=Sun |first3=Yuanlin |date=2022-05-15 |title=A dwarf sabertooth cat (Felidae: Machairodontinae) from Shanxi, China, and the phylogeny of the sabertooth tribe Machairodontini |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379122001482 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=284 |pages=107517 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107517 |issn=0277-3791}}</ref>
The type species '''''L. emageritus''''' was documented by [[Lars Werdelin]] based on fossils found at the [[Lothagam]] site in Kenya. He described it as a large [[felid]] with an extremely long claw on one digit. He named the genus from the [[Turkana language|Turkana]] word for "cat" and the species from the word for "claw". Werdelin considered ''L. emageritus'' to be similar to ''[[Homotherium]]'' in [[dentition]] and to represent a basal member of [[Homotherini]].<ref name=werdelin /> More recent studies have since shed more light on its evolution, where ''Lokotunjailurus'' is shown to be [[Sister group|sister]] to a lineage consisting of ''[[Amphimachairodus]]'' and its descendants, including ''Homotherium'', and therefore no immediate relative of the latter.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jiangzuo |first=Qigao |last2=Werdelin |first2=Lars |last3=Sun |first3=Yuanlin |date=2022-05-15 |title=A dwarf sabertooth cat (Felidae: Machairodontinae) from Shanxi, China, and the phylogeny of the sabertooth tribe Machairodontini |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379122001482 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=284 |pages=107517 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107517 |issn=0277-3791}}</ref>


A second species '''''L. fanonei''''' was described from fossils found in the Toros Menalla Formation in the [[Djurab Desert]] of [[Chad]]. The deposits date to the Late Miocene (7 [[mya (unit)|mya]]).<ref name=bonis /> A third species '''''L. chinsamyae''''' was named in 2023.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.isci.2023.107212 |title=Langebaanweg's sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae) |year=2023 |last1=Jiangzuo |first1=Qigao |last2=Rabe |first2=Caitlin |last3=Abella |first3=Juan |last4=Govender |first4=Romala |last5=Valenciano |first5=Alberto |journal=iScience |volume=26 |issue=8 |page=107212 |pmid=37609637 |pmc=10440717 |bibcode=2023iSci...26j7212J |doi-access=free }}</ref>
A second species '''''L. fanonei''''' was described from fossils found in the Toros Menalla Formation in the [[Djurab Desert]] of [[Chad]]. The deposits date to the Late Miocene (7 [[mya (unit)|mya]]).<ref name=bonis /> A third species '''''L. chinsamyae''''' was named in 2023, based on material from [[Langebaanweg]], [[South Africa|South Afrika]]. The [[Specific name (zoology)|species name]] honours [[Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan]], a South Afrikan paleontologist.<ref name=":0" />


==Description==
==Description==
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==Paleoecology==
==Paleoecology==
[[File:Africa - the evolution of a continent and its large mammal fauna (2006) fig. 11.png|thumb|left|''Lokotunjailurus'' (far right) and other [[Late Miocene]] African [[carnivorans]]]]
[[File:Africa - the evolution of a continent and its large mammal fauna (2006) fig. 11.png|thumb|left|''Lokotunjailurus'' (far right) and other [[Late Miocene]] African [[carnivorans]]]]
In the Djurab desert in northern Chad in central Africa, ''Lokotunjailurus fanonei'' seems to have lived alongside fellow machairodonts ''[[Amphimachairodus|Amphimachirodus kabir]]'', ''[[Tchadailurus]]'' and early representatives of the genus ''[[Megantereon]]''. In addition to these other cats, animals such as crocodiles, primitive three-toed horses, fish, monkeys, hippos, aardvarks, turtles, rodents, giraffes, snakes, antelopes, pigs, mongooses, foxes, hyenas, otters, honey badgers, the elephantid ''[[Stegotetrabelodon]]'' and the hominid ''[[Sahelanthropus|Sahelanthropus tchadensis]]'' providing ample food for these cats, indicating that there was enough biodiversity that four sabertooths could coexist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/10416-sabertooth-cats-feasted-early-humans.html|title=Sabertooth Cats May Have Feasted on Early Humans|website=[[Live Science]] |date=17 January 2011 |publisher=|accessdate=15 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-the-chad-cat/|title=Paleo Profile: The Chad Cat |first=Brian |last=Switek |publisher= |accessdate=15 May 2018}}</ref>
In the Djurab desert in northern Chad in central Africa, ''Lokotunjailurus fanonei'' seems to have lived alongside fellow machairodonts ''[[Amphimachairodus|Adeilosmilus kabir]]'', ''[[Tchadailurus|Yoshi]]'' and early representatives of the genus ''[[Megantereon]]''. In addition to these other cats, animals such as crocodiles, primitive three-toed horses, fish, monkeys, hippos, aardvarks, turtles, rodents, giraffes, snakes, antelopes, pigs, mongooses, foxes, hyenas, otters, honey badgers, the elephantid ''[[Stegotetrabelodon]]'' and the hominid ''[[Sahelanthropus|Sahelanthropus tchadensis]]'' providing ample food for these cats, indicating that there was enough biodiversity that four sabertooths could coexist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/10416-sabertooth-cats-feasted-early-humans.html|title=Sabertooth Cats May Have Feasted on Early Humans|website=[[Live Science]] |date=17 January 2011 |publisher=|accessdate=15 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-the-chad-cat/|title=Paleo Profile: The Chad Cat |first=Brian |last=Switek |publisher= |accessdate=15 May 2018}}</ref> At Langebaanweg, the carnivore [[Guild (ecology)|guild]] was generally similar, but appears to have included a ''[[Dinofelis]]'' species (''D. [[Lars Werdelin|werdelini]]'') in addition to the machairodont genera mentioned above, although ''Megantereon'' does not appear to be present.<ref name=":0" />


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 10:11, 6 February 2024

Lokotunjailurus
Temporal range: 7-5 Ma
↓
Restoration of L. emageritus by Mauricio Antón, a Stegotetrabelodon in the distance
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: †Machairodontinae
Tribe: †Homotherini
Genus: †Lokotunjailurus
Werdelin 2003
Type species
Lokotunjailurus emageritus
Werdelin, 2003
Other species
Synonyms

Lokotunjailurus is an extinct genus of saber-toothed cats (Machairodontinae) which existed during the late Miocene and earliest Pliocene epoch and is known from localities in northern, eastern and southern Afrika.[1][2][3] A big cat, it was more slender than comparable recent species and its build suggests cursoriality. It is grouped among a group of similar-looking saber-toothed cats known as the scimitar-tooths.

History and taxonomy

The type species L. emageritus was documented by Lars Werdelin based on fossils found at the Lothagam site in Kenya. He described it as a large felid with an extremely long claw on one digit. He named the genus from the Turkana word for "cat" and the species from the word for "claw". Werdelin considered L. emageritus to be similar to Homotherium in dentition and to represent a basal member of Homotherini.[1] More recent studies have since shed more light on its evolution, where Lokotunjailurus is shown to be sister to a lineage consisting of Amphimachairodus and its descendants, including Homotherium, and therefore no immediate relative of the latter.[4]

A second species L. fanonei was described from fossils found in the Toros Menalla Formation in the Djurab Desert of Chad. The deposits date to the Late Miocene (7 mya).[2] A third species L. chinsamyae was named in 2023, based on material from Langebaanweg, South Afrika. The species name honours Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a South Afrikan paleontologist.[3]

Description

Lokotunjailurus was about as tall as a lioness; about 90 cm (3.0 ft) at the shoulder, but was much lighter in build due to its longer legs and more gracile body. Its dewclaws were particularly large in proportion to its body and were bigger than those of a much larger lion, indicating it relied on them quite heavily for grappling with prey. In comparison, its claws on the second to fourth digits were smaller than those of leopards.[5]

Paleoecology

Lokotunjailurus (far right) and other Late Miocene African carnivorans

In the Djurab desert in northern Chad in central Africa, Lokotunjailurus fanonei seems to have lived alongside fellow machairodonts Adeilosmilus kabir, Yoshi and early representatives of the genus Megantereon. In addition to these other cats, animals such as crocodiles, primitive three-toed horses, fish, monkeys, hippos, aardvarks, turtles, rodents, giraffes, snakes, antelopes, pigs, mongooses, foxes, hyenas, otters, honey badgers, the elephantid Stegotetrabelodon and the hominid Sahelanthropus tchadensis providing ample food for these cats, indicating that there was enough biodiversity that four sabertooths could coexist.[6][7] At Langebaanweg, the carnivore guild was generally similar, but appears to have included a Dinofelis species (D. werdelini) in addition to the machairodont genera mentioned above, although Megantereon does not appear to be present.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Werdelin, Lars (23 January 2003), "Mio-Pliocene Carnivora from Lothagam, Kenya", Mio-Pliocene Carnivora from Lothagam, Kenya (in German), Columbia University Press, pp. 261–328, doi:10.7312/leak11870-013/html, ISBN 978-0-231-50760-8, retrieved 4 February 2024
  2. ^ a b Bonis, L.d.; Peigné, S.; Mackaye, H.T.; Likius, A.; Vignaud, P. & Brunet, M. (2010). "New sabre-toothed cats in the Late Miocene of Toros Menalla (Chad)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 9 (5): 221–7. Bibcode:2010CRPal...9..221D. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2010.07.018.
  3. ^ a b c Jiangzuo, Qigao; Rabe, Caitlin; Abella, Juan; Govender, Romala; Valenciano, Alberto (20 July 2023). "Langebaanweg's sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae)". iScience. 26 (8): 107212. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107212. ISSN 2589-0042. PMID 37609637.
  4. ^ Jiangzuo, Qigao; Werdelin, Lars; Sun, Yuanlin (15 May 2022). "A dwarf sabertooth cat (Felidae: Machairodontinae) from Shanxi, China, and the phylogeny of the sabertooth tribe Machairodontini". Quaternary Science Reviews. 284: 107517. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107517. ISSN 0277-3791.
  5. ^ Anton, Mauricio (2013). Sabertooth.
  6. ^ "Sabertooth Cats May Have Feasted on Early Humans". Live Science. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  7. ^ Switek, Brian. "Paleo Profile: The Chad Cat". Retrieved 15 May 2018.


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