Arizona Skull Reveals 5-Million-Year-Old Saber-Toothed Cat's Early Fang Evolution
Updated
Updated · Sci.News · Jun 29
Arizona Skull Reveals 5-Million-Year-Old Saber-Toothed Cat's Early Fang Evolution
3 articles · Updated · Sci.News · Jun 29
Summary
A nearly complete skull from Arizona has given researchers their clearest view yet of Adelphailurus kansensis, a puma-sized North American felid that lived about 7 million to 5 million years ago.
The specimen shows an early saber-toothed anatomy: flattened, serrated upper canines that were shorter than later species' fangs, supporting the idea that once these cats evolved longer canines, the trait became hard to reverse.
Its skull combines traits seen in primitive saber-toothed genera Yoshi and Metailurus, while also showing unusually thin cheekbones and distinct teeth that help separate Adelphailurus kansensis from other early felids.
That reexamination also helps resolve fossils once lumped into the 'wastebasket' genus Pseudaelurus and suggests Adelphailurus kansensis may reflect a separate Late Miocene migration into North America via the Bering Land Bridge.
The findings, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, place the species near the base of saber-toothed cat diversification and add evidence to debates over how the group originated and spread.