| Pliocrocuta Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skull | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Hyaenidae |
| Genus: | † Pliocrocuta Kretzoi, 1938 |
| Species | |
| |
Pliocrocuta is an extinct genus of hyena. [1] It contains the species Pliocrocuta perrieri, known from the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of Eurasia. It is possibly ancestral to Pachycrocuta . [2]
Hyenas, or hyaenas, are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae. With just four extant species, it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems.
Elephantidae is a family of large, herbivorous proboscidean mammals collectively called elephants and mammoths. These are large terrestrial mammals with a snout modified into a trunk and teeth modified into tusks. Most genera and species in the family are extinct. Only two genera, Loxodonta and Elephas, are living.
The Irish elk, also called the giant deer or Irish deer, is an extinct species of deer in the genus Megaloceros and is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Its range extended across Eurasia during the Pleistocene, from Ireland to Lake Baikal in Siberia. The most recent remains of the species have been radiocarbon dated to about 7,700 years ago in western Russia.
Megaloceros is an extinct genus of deer whose members lived throughout Eurasia from the early Pleistocene to the early Holocene. The type and only certain member of the genus, Megaloceros giganteus, vernacularly known as the "Irish elk" or "giant elk", is also the best known. Fallow deer are thought to be their closest living relatives.
Stegodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants. It was originally assigned to the family Elephantidae along with modern elephants but is now placed in the extinct family Stegodontidae. Like elephants, Stegodon had teeth with plate-like lophs that are different from those of more primitive proboscideans like gomphotheres and mastodons. The oldest fossils of the genus are found in Late Miocene strata in Asia, likely originating from the more archaic Stegolophodon, shortly afterwards migrating into Africa. While the genus became extinct in Africa during the Pliocene, Stegodon remained widespread in South, Southeast and East Asia until the end of the Pleistocene.
Panthera spelaea, also known as the Eurasian cave lion, European cave lion or steppe lion, is an extinct Panthera species that most likely evolved in Europe after the third Cromerian interglacial stage, less than 600,000 years ago. Phylogenetic analysis of fossil bone samples revealed that it was highly distinct and genetically isolated from the modern lion occurring in Africa and Asia.
Pachycrocuta is an extinct genus of prehistoric hyenas. The largest and most well-researched species is Pachycrocuta brevirostris, colloquially known as the giant short-faced hyena as it stood about 90–100 cm (35–39 in) at the shoulder and it is estimated to have averaged 110 kg (240 lb) in weight, approaching the size of a lioness, making it the largest known hyena. Pachycrocuta first appeared during the late Miocene. By 800,000 years ago, it became locally extinct in Europe, with it surviving in East Asia until at least 500,000 years ago, and possibly later elsewhere in Asia.
Panthera gombaszoegensis, also known as the European jaguar, is a Panthera species that lived from about 2.0 to 0.35 million years ago in Europe. The first fossils were excavated in 1938 in Gombasek, Slovakia.
Panthera fossilis, is an extinct species of cat belonging to the genus Panthera, known from remains found in Eurasia spanning the Middle Pleistocene and possibly into the Early Pleistocene. P. fossilis has sometimes been referred to by the common names steppe lion or cave lion, though these names are conventionally restricted to the later related species P. spelaea, to which P. fossilis is probably ancestral.
Saticula was a Caudini city near the frontier of Campania in southern Italy. In 343 BC, during the First Samnite War, the Roman consul Cornelius attacked it during the campaign against the Samnites in the Battle of Saticula.
Acinonyx pardinensis is an extinct felid species belonging to the genus Acinonyx, closely related to the cheetah, native to Eurasia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. It was substantially larger than the living cheetah.
Leptobos is an extinct genus of large bovine, known from the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of Eurasia, extending from the Iberian Peninsula to northern China. Species of Leptobos reached a weight up to 320 kg. Leptobos is considered to be closely related to the insular genus Epileptobos from the Pleistocene of Java, and is considered to be ancestral to Bison. The dietary preference across the genus includes species that were browsers, grazers and mixed feeders. The first appearance of Leptobos in Europe around 3.6-3.5 million years ago is considered to define the beginning of the Villafranchian European faunal stage. Leptobos became extinct after being replaced by their descendant Bison during the Early Pleistocene, after a period of temporal overlap. "Leptobos" syrticus from Libya likely belongs in a different genus.
Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis is an extinct species of dwarf elephant belonging to the genus Palaeoloxodon, native to the Siculo-Maltese archipelago during the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene. It is derived from the European mainland straight-tusked elephant.
Stephanorhinus is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of Stephanorhinus were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in much of temperate Eurasia, especially Europe, for most of the Pleistocene. Two species of Stephanorhinus – Merck's rhinoceros and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros – persisted into the last glacial period.
Mammuthus rumanus is a species of mammoth that lived during the Pliocene in Eurasia. It the oldest mammoth species known outside of Africa.
Villafranchian age is a period of geologic time spanning the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. Named by Italian geologist Lorenzo Pareto for a sequence of terrestrial sediments studied near Villafranca d'Asti, a town near Turin, it succeeds the Ruscinian age, and is followed by the Galerian.
The European dhole was a paleosubspecies of the dhole, which ranged throughout much of Western and Central Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Like the modern Asiatic populations, it was a more progressive form than other prehistoric members of the genus Cuon, having transformed its lower molar tooth into a single cusped slicer. It was virtually indistinguishable from its modern counterpart, save for its greater size, which closely approached that of the gray wolf.
Canis arnensis, the Arno River dog, is an extinct species of canine that was endemic to Mediterranean Europe during the Early Pleistocene. The Arno River dog has been described as a small jackal-like dog. Its anatomy and morphology relate it more to the modern golden jackal than to the larger Etruscan wolf of that time. It is probably the ancestor of modern jackals.
Canis etruscus, the Etruscan wolf, is an extinct species of canine that was endemic to Mediterranean Europe during the Early Pleistocene. The Etruscan wolf has been described as a small wolf-like dog. The Etruscan wolf has been accepted as the ancestor of C. mosbachensis, that is the ancestor of the grey wolf, for a long time. Recent research has suggested that C. borjgali from Dmanisi has to be considered the ancestor of C. mosbachensis.
This paleomammology list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2021, as well as notes other significant paleomammology discoveries and events which occurred during 2021.
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