Two new species of saber-tooth tiger identified from 5 million years ago in South Africa
An international investigation led by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has discovered two new species of saber-tooth tiger by examining one of the Pliocene fossil collections at Langebaanweg, north of Cape Town (South Africa), as reported by the University's Scientific Culture Unit.
The results of the study, published in iScience, have suggested that the distribution of saber-tooths from ancient Africa might have been different from what was previously assumed.
The University has explained that saber-toothed tigers are a diverse group of predators with hyperdeveloped upper canines that began to roam Africa about 7-6 million years ago, around the time hominids, the group that includes modern humans, began to evolve.
Thus, this work has described a total of four species. Two of them, 'Dinofelis werdelini' and 'Lokotunjailurus chimsamyae', were previously unknown.
The investigation has also detailed that the 'Dinofelis werdelini' is distributed globally and its fossils have been found in Africa, China, Europe and North America. The researchers hoped to identify a new species of 'Dinofelis' on the Langebaanweg based on previous research.. However, 'Lokotunjailurus chimsamyae' had only been identified in Kenya and Chad prior to this analysis.. This suggests that it was present practically throughout the continent between 7 and 5 million years ago (late Late Miocene and early Pliocene).
“Our phylogenetic analysis is the first to take into account all four species from the Langebaanweg. With this information encoded in a matrix, and through state-of-the-art phylogenetic analyses, they have determined the degree of kinship with other previously described fossil forms and other current felids.
The study has further indicated that the composition of the Langebaanweg felid assemblage, including saber-tooth tigers and cats such as Machairodontini, Metailurini and Felinae, has reflected rising global temperatures and environmental changes of the Pliocene epoch.
Thus, the presence of certain Machairodontini (Lokotunjailurus), which are larger in size and relatively more adapted to running, has suggested that there were open grassland environments on the Langebaanweg. However, the presence of the Metalaurini (Dinofelis) has suggested that there were also more covered environments, such as forests.
The researchers have noted that finding both species has hinted that the Langebaanweg contained a mix of forest and grassland 5.2 million years ago, but the high proportion of Machairodonti species compared to other Eurasian and African fossil localities confirm that southern Africa was transitioning to more open grassland-like areas during this period.
Another of the conclusions that stands out from the research is that the composition of saber teeth in this area is very similar to that found in Yuanmou, China.. In fact, the Yuanmou saber-toothed tiger 'Longchuansmilus' may have a close evolutionary relationship with the African species of 'Lokotunjailurus'.
“This suggests that the environment of the two regions during the Mio-Pliocene was similar or that there was a possible migration route between Langebaanweg and Yuanmou,” said Peking University paleontologist Qigao Jiangzuo.
“The two new sabertooths are just one example of the many previously unpublished fossils from Langebaanweg housed at Iziko in the Cenozoic Collections,” said Romala Govender, curator and paleontologist at the Iziko Museum in South Africa.