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Werdelinus
''Werdelinus'' is an extinct genus of hyaenid containing a single known species. ''Werdelinus africanus'' is known by material from Toros-Menalla, Chad. It lived during the Late Miocene and the Pliocene. Dental wear of ''Werdelinus africanus'' indicates that ''Werdelinus'' likely had durophagous adaptations, including adaptations to bone-crushing. Analysis of the lower dentition of ''W. africanus'' suggests that it was likely durophagous and cursorial. Characteristics ''Werdelinus africanus'' is a large hyaenid characterized by a deep maxilla, low premolars, and a large m1 molar, but significantly reduced M1 and m2 molars. Its maxilla is deeper than those of most hyaenids. Its mandible corpus is shallower than those of most modern hyaenids, including the brown hyena, the striped hyena, and the spotted hyena, and excluding the aardwolf. Despite being shallow its mandible corpus is robust and in life was likely very sturdy to support the probable durophagous tendencies of ''W. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lars Werdelin
Lars Werdelin (born 1955) is a Swedish paleontologist specializing in the evolution of mammalian carnivores. His areas of scientific interest include the evolutionary interaction of carnivores and hominins in Africa, as well as the evolution and phylogeny of carnivore clades such as the Machairodontinae, the lynxes and the Hyaenidae. He received his Ph.D. from Stockholm University in 1981. He is responsible for describing the Machairodontine genus '' Lokotunjailurus'' in 2003 and in 2023, the Machairodontine species '' Dinofelis werdelini'' was named in honour of him. The genus name of ''Werdelinus ''Werdelinus'' is an extinct genus of hyaenid containing a single known species. ''Werdelinus africanus'' is known by material from Toros-Menalla, Chad. It lived during the Late Miocene and the Pliocene. Dental wear of ''Werdelinus africanus'' i ...'', an extinct hyaenid described in 2010, was also dedicated to him and his contributions to carnivore paleontology. References Ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Miocene
The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The evolution of ''Homo'' The gibbons (family Hylobatidae) and orangutans (genus ''Pongo'') were the first groups to split from the line leading to the hominins, including humans, then gorillas (genus ''Gorilla''), and finally chimpanzees and bonobos (genus ''Pan (genus), Pan''). The splitting date between hominin and chimpanzee lineages is placed by some between 4 and 8 million years ago, that is, during the Late Miocene. References External links GeoWhen Database - Late Miocene Miocene, .03 Miocene geochronology, 03 Messinian, * Tortonian, * {{geochronology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spotted Hyena
The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUCN due to its widespread range and large numbers estimated between 27,000 and 47,000 individuals. The species is, however, experiencing declines outside of protected areas due to habitat loss and poaching. Populations of ''Crocuta'', usually considered a subspecies of ''Crocuta crocuta'', known as cave hyenas, roamed across Eurasia for at least one million years until the end of the Late Pleistocene. The spotted hyena is the largest extant member of the Hyaenidae, and is further physically distinguished from other species by its vaguely bear-like build, rounded ears, less prominent mane, spotted pelt, more dual-purposed dentition, fewer nipples, and #Female genitalia, pseudo-penis. It is the only placental mammalian species where females hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliocene Genus Extinctions
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58See the 2014 version of the ICS geologic time scale million years ago (Ma). It is the second and most recent epoch of the Period in the . The Pliocene follows the Epoch and is followed by the |
Miocene Carnivorans
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene followed the Oligocene and preceded the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by distinct global events but by regionally defined transitions from the warmer Oligocene to the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, Afro-Arabia collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, and allowing the interchange of fauna between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans and hominoids into Eurasia. During the late Miocene, the connections between the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continent
A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of Asia or Europe within Eurasia, or a landmass and nearby islands within its continental shelf. Due to these varying definitions, the number of continents varies; up to seven or as few as four geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Most English-speaking world, English-speaking countries recognize seven regions as continents. In order from largest to smallest in area, these seven regions are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia (continent), Australia (sometimes called Oceania or Australasia). Different variations with fewer continents merge some of these regions; examples of this are merging Asia and Europe into Eurasia, "Most people recognize seven continents—Asia, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area.Sayre, April Pulley (1999), ''Africa'', Twenty-First Century Books. . With nearly billion people as of , it accounts for about of the world's human population. Demographics of Africa, Africa's population is the youngest among all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4. Based on 2024 projections, Africa's population will exceed 3.8 billion people by 2100. Africa is the least wealthy inhabited continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including Geography of Africa, geography, Climate of Africa, climate, corruption, Scramble for Africa, colonialism, the Cold War, and neocolonialism. Despite this lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Name (zoology)
In zoological nomenclature, the specific name (also specific epithet, species epithet, or epitheton) is the second part (the second name) within the scientific name of a species (a binomen). The first part of the name of a species is the name of the genus or the generic name. The rules and regulations governing the giving of a new species name are explained in the article species description. For example, the scientific name for humans is ''Homo sapiens'', which is the species name, consisting of two names: ''Homo'' is the " generic name" (the name of the genus) and ''sapiens'' is the "specific name". Etymology Historically, ''specific name'' referred to the combination of what are now called the generic and specific names. Carl Linnaeus, who formalized binomial nomenclature, made explicit distinctions between specific, generic, and trivial names. The generic name was that of the genus, the first in the binomial, the trivial name was the second name in the binomial, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleontologist
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geologic time, and assess the interactions between prehistoric organisms and their natural environment. While paleontological observations are known from at least the 6th century BC, the foundation of paleontology as a science dates back to the work of Georges Cuvier in 1796. Cuvier demonstrated evidence for the concept of extinction and how life of the past was not necessarily the same as that of the present. The field developed rapidly over the course of the following decades, and the French word ''paléontologie'' was introduced for the study in 1822, which was derived from the Ancient Greek word for "ancient" and words describing relatedness and a field of study. Further advances in the field accompanied the work of Charles Darwin who popu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generic Name (biology)
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. '' Panthera leo'' (lion) and '' Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. phylogenetic analysis should clearly demonstrate both monophyly and validity as a separate lineage). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chasmaporthetes
''Chasmaporthetes'', also known as hunting or running hyena, is an extinct genus of hyenas distributed in Eurasia, North America, and Africa during the Pliocene-Pleistocene epochs, living from 4.9 million to 780,000 years ago, existing for about . The genus probably arose from Eurasian Miocene hyenas such as ''Thalassictis'' or ''Lycyaena'', with ''C. borissiaki'' being the oldest known representative.Kurtén, Björn (1980) ''Pleistocene mammals of North America'', p. 199, Columbia University Press, 1980, The species ''C. ossifragus'' was the only hyena to cross the Bering land bridge into the Americas, and ranged over what is now Arizona and Mexico during Blancan and early Irvingtonian Land Mammal ages, between 5.0 and 1.5 million years ago.Macdonald, David (1992) ''The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores'', p. 119-144, New York: Parkwest, ''Chasmaporthetes'' was one of the so-called "dog-like" hyenas (of which the aardwolf is the only survivor), a hyaenid group wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
