''Kerberos'' ("

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...

") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of hyainailourid

hyaenodonts Hyaenodontidae ("hyena teeth") is a family of placental mammals in the extinct superfamily Hyaenodontoidea. Hyaenodontids arose during the early Eocene and persisted well into the early Miocene. Fossils of this group have been found in Asia, Nor ...

in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Hyainailourinae Hyainailourinae ("hyena-like Felidae, cats") is a Paraphyly, paraphyletic subfamily of Hyaenodonta, hyaenodonts from extinct paraphyletic family Hyainailouridae. They arose during the Bartonian, Middle Eocene in Africa, and persisted well into th ...

, that lived in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It contains the single species ''Kerberos langebadreae''.

Taxonomy

The species ''Kerberos langebadreae'' was created along with the genus in 2015 by Solé and colleagues based on a

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

skull, lower jaw and a number of associated hindlimb elements. The fossils were discovered in 1981 by Dominique Vidalenc at Montespieu, near the city of Lautrec in the department of Tarn in southern France. They were shown to come from a hyaenodont and were referred to a new genus and species. The genus name ''Kerberos'' comes from

, the hound of

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

, a multi-headed dog that guards the entrance to the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. The species name, ''Kerberos langebadreae'', is dedicated to the French

palaeontologist 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 geolo ...

Dr. Brigitte Lange-Badré, who contributed extensively to the knowledge of Eocene carnivorous mammals. The original study placed ''K. langebadreae'' within the subfamily Hyainailourinae. More recent studies, using Bayesian tip dating, placed ''Kerberos langebadreae'' as the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to '' Pterodon dasyuroides''.

Description

''Kerberos langebadreae'' was a large hyaenodont and is thought to have weighed around 140 kg based on

measurement Measurement is the quantification of attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events. In other words, measurement is a process of determining how large or small a physical quantity is as compared to ...

s of the teeth, skull and astragalus. This makes ''K. langebadreae'' one of the largest carnivores known from the Eocene of Europe. ''Kerberos langebadreae'' is the only currently known

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

from genus ''Kerberos'', and it was an extinct large-bodied

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It represents one of the oldest members of the subfamily Hyainailourinae that have been recorded in

. Many hyaenodont species are known only from fragments of the jaw or a few teeth. ''K. langebadreae'' represents the first instance where

cranial Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. Thi ...

, dental and

postcrania The postcranium ("behind the cranium"; plural: postcrania) or postcranial skeleton in zoology and vertebrate paleontology is the skeleton apart from the skull. The postcranium encompasses the axial skeleton, which includes the entirety of the verte ...

l material of an early hyainailourine have been found associated with each other. The material that has been referred to ''K. langebadreae'' includes a nearly complete cranium, left and right halves of the lower jaw, a

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

and several

foot The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up o ...

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

s including the

astragalus Astragalus may refer to: * ''Astragalus'' (plant), a large genus of herbs and small shrubs *Astragalus (bone) The talus (; Latin for ankle or ankle bone; : tali), talus bone, astragalus (), or ankle bone is one of the group of foot bones known ...

calcaneus In humans and many other primates, the calcaneus (; from the Latin ''calcaneus'' or ''calcaneum'', meaning heel; : calcanei or calcanea) or heel bone is a bone of the Tarsus (skeleton), tarsus of the foot which constitutes the heel. In some other ...

metatarsals The metatarsal bones or metatarsus (: metatarsi) are a group of five long bones in the midfoot, located between the tarsal bones (which form the heel and the ankle) and the phalanges (toes). Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are nu ...

1-3 and two middle

phalanxes The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used to d ...

. ''K. langebadreae'' displays both primitive and derived features. Among the former is the anteriorly narrow jaw and the small space between the first and second lower

premolar The premolars, also called premolar Tooth (human), teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the Canine tooth, canine and Molar (tooth), molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per dental terminology#Quadrant, quadrant in ...

s. The derived features include a

premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammals h ...

that is narrow along is full length as well as several dental characteristics. The skull of ''K. langebadreae'' is about 35 cm long, similar in size to that of a female

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

. The snout is very short. The shape of the skull indicates large jaw muscles, suggesting that ''K. langebadreae'' had a powerful bite. The

molars The molars or molar teeth are large, flat tooth, teeth at the back of the mouth. They are more developed in mammal, mammals. They are used primarily to comminution, grind food during mastication, chewing. The name ''molar'' derives from Latin, '' ...

of ''K. langebadreae'' were cutting whereas the premolars display a shape and wear pattern more consistent with crushing action.

Palaeoecology

Montespieu, the locality where ''Kerberos langebadreae'' was found, is part of the “Castrais” fauna which is thought to be of

Bartonian The Bartonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geologic time scale, a stage or age in the middle of the Eocene Epoch or Series. The Bartonian Age spans the time between . It is preceded by the Lutetian and is follow ...

age. Both ''Kerberos'' and '' Paroxyaena'' were much larger than the proviverrid hyaenodonts that lived in Europe at the same time and are therefore unlikely to have been in direct

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

with them. The small proviverrids may have even been their prey. Based on the neck

vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

e of closely related hyaenodonts, it is thought that ''Kerberos langebadreae'' and its relatives had powerful necks which allowed them to restrain struggling prey. This, together with the powerful jaw muscles and crushing premolars, suggests that ''K. langebadreae'' was capable of both hunting and scavenging similarly to the modern

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 IUC ...

. Unlike the modern hyena, however, the foot bones of ''K. langebadreae'' indicate that it had a

plantigrade 151px, Portion of a human skeleton, showing plantigrade habit In terrestrial animals, plantigrade locomotion means walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground. It is one of three forms of locomotion adopted by terrestrial mammals. ...

posture and was not an efficient runner. ''K. langebadreae'' likely preyed on animals which were larger than itself, such as

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with Hoof, hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined ...

s like '' Choeropotamus'', ''

Lophiodon ''Lophiodon'' (from , 'crest' and 'tooth') is an extinct genus of mammal related to chalicotheres. It lived in Eocene Europe , and was previously thought to be closely related to ''Hyrachyus''. ''Lophiodon'' was named and described by Georges ...

'' and ''

Palaeotherium ''Palaeotherium'' is an extinct genus of Equoidea, equoid that lived in Europe and possibly the Middle East from the Middle Eocene to the Early Oligocene. It is the type genus of the Palaeotheriidae, a group exclusive to the Paleogene, Palaeogen ...

''. Because of its large size it would have been an important

apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the hig ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q50402181, from2=Q50387375 Hyaenodonts Prehistoric mammals of Europe Prehistoric mammal genera