Canis othmanii sp. nov. (Carnivora, Canidae) from the early Middle Pleistocene site of Wadi Sarrat (Tunisia)
| Autor: | Narjess Karoui-Yaakoub, Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro, Nebiha Bel Haj Ali, Mabrouk Boughdiri, Moncef Saïd Mtimet, María-Patrocinio Espigares, Saverio Bartolini Lucenti, Lamjed Amri, Sergio Ros-Montoya |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
010506 paleontology geography geography.geographical_feature_category Fossil Record biology Pleistocene Ecology General Engineering Genus Canis biology.organism_classification 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Canis Taxon Extant taxon Mammal Wadi 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Zdroj: | Comptes Rendus Palevol. 16:774-782 |
| ISSN: | 1631-0683 |
| Popis: | The North African fossil record of the family Canidae is scarce and scattered and for this reason poorly known. This is particularly true for the genus Canis, fossils of which only come from a few sites of Morocco and Algeria. Here, we provide the description of the first material of Canis from the early Middle Pleistocene site of Wadi Sarrat (Tunisia), recovered in association with other fossil mammal taxa and Acheulian lithic artifacts. A cranial specimen is described and compared to other fossil and extant canid species by anatomical and morphometric analyses. The specimen shows cranio-dental morphologies and proportions considerably different from other fossil and extant African canids. Remarkably, its proportions resemble more closely those of Eurasian Early-Middle Pleistocene taxa, e.g., Canis mosbachensis Soergel, 1925, although its principal morphological features cannot be referred to any of the known Eurasian taxa. Therefore, we suggest to ascribe this material to a new species of canid, Canis othmanii sp. nov. The presence of new species of Canis with Eurasian affinities in the northern part of the African continent has a high significance for the fossil record of this region, as well as strong implications on the paleobiogeography of canids during the Middle Pleistocene. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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