Hyainailouros

Hyainailouros Temporal range: Early to Late Miocene (Burdigalian to Tortonian) 20.0–11.3  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
lower jaw of Hyainailouros sulzeri
Restoration of H. sulzeri (far left), Cynelos eurydon , Afrosmilus africanus and H. napakensis (far right)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	† Hyaenodonta
Superfamily:	† Hyainailouroidea
Family:	† Hyainailouridae
Subfamily:	† Hyainailourinae
Tribe:	† Hyainailourini
Genus:	† Hyainailouros Biedermann, 1863
Type species
†Hyainailouros sulzeri Biedermann, 1863
Species
†H. bugtiensis(Pilgrim, 1912) [1] †H. napakensis(Ginsburg, 1980) [2] †H. sulzeriBiedermann, 1863 [3]
Synonyms
synonyms of genus: Hainailouros(Lavrov, 1999) [4] Hyaenaelurus(Stehlin, 1907) Hyaenailurus(Rütimeyer, 1867) synonyms of species: H. napakensis: Hyainailouros nyanzae(Ginsburg, 1980) Pterodon nyanzae(Savage, 1965) [5] H. sulzeri: Hyainailouros maximus(Meyer, 1837) Hyaenailurus sulzeri(Biedermann, 1863)

Hyainailouros ("hyena-cat") is an extinct polyphyletic genus of hyaenodont belonging to the family Hyainailouridae that lived during the Early to Late Miocene, of which there were at least three species spread across Eurasia and Africa. ^{[6] [7]}

Description

The type species, H. sulzeri, was one of the largest hyaenodonts, weighing between 266–1,276 kg (586–2,813 lb). H. bugtiensis was around the same size of H. sulzeri, if not slightly larger, weighing 267–1,744 kg (589–3,845 lb). Both species were similar in size to the closely related Simbakubwa. H. napakensis, on the other hand, was the smallest species of the genus, weighing just around 202–271 kg (445–597 lb). ^[8]

Paleobiology

Closely related to other large African hyaenodonts such as Simbakubwa and Megistotherium , Hyainailouros walked with a semi-digitigrade stance and was probably capable of large, leaping bounds. ^[8]

References

1. Pilgrim, G. E. (1912.) "The Vertebrate Fauna of the Gaj Series in the Bugti Hills and the Punjab", Memoir of the Geological Survey of India, Palaeontologia Indica, New Series, 4: 1–83
2. Ginsburg, L. (1980.) "Hyainailouros sulzeri, mammifère créodonte du Miocène européen." Annales de Paléontologie, 66: 19–73.
3. W. G. A. Biedermann (1863.) "Petrefacten aus der Umgegend von Winterthur. II Heft: Die Braunkohlen von Elgg. Anhang: Hyainailouros sulzeri". Bleuler-Hausheer, Winterthur, 23 pp.
4. A. V. Lavrov (1999.) "Adaptive Radiation of Hyaenodontinae (Creodonta, Hyaenodontidae) of Asia." in 6th Congress of the Theriological Society, Moscow, April 13–16, p. 138 [in Russian].
5. R. J. G. Savage (1965.) "Fossil Mammals of Africa: The Miocene Carnivora of East Africa." Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geology 10(8):241-316
6. Morlo, M.; Miller, E. R.; El-Barkooky, A. N. (2007). "Creodonta and Carnivora from Wadi Moghra, Egypt". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27: 145–159. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[145:CACFWM]2.0.CO;2. S2CID   86235694.
7. Solé, F.; Lhuillier, J.; Adaci, M.; Bensalah, M.; Mahboubi, M.; Tabuce, R. (2013). "The hyaenodontidans from the Gour Lazib area (?Early Eocene, Algeria): implications concerning the systematics and the origin of the Hyainailourinae and Teratodontinae". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 12 (3): 303–322. doi:10.1080/14772019.2013.795196. S2CID   84475034.
8. Borths, M. R.; Stevens, N. J. (2019). "Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, gen. et sp. nov. (Hyainailourinae, Hyaenodonta, 'Creodonta,' Mammalia), a gigantic carnivore from the earliest Miocene of Kenya" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 39 (1): e1570222. Bibcode:2019JVPal..39E0222B. doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1570222. S2CID   145972918.