Phylogeny of the sabertoothed felids (<scp>C</scp>arnivora: <scp>F</scp>elidae: <scp>M</scp>achairodontinae)

Christiansen, Per

doi:10.1111/cla.12008

Cited by 37 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…Some [5], [6] have argued that they represent a single species, to which the name S. populator [7] would then apply, but this view has not gained ground, and there are several character differences between them pertaining, for instance, to cranial form and canine size and shape [1], [2]. A recent phylogenetic study found a further difference in that the P 4 protocone is more reduced in S. populator [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Making of a Monster: Postnatal Ontogenetic Changes in Craniomandibular Shape in the Great Sabercat Smilodon

Christiansen

2012

PLoS ONE

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Derived sabercats had craniomandibular morphologies that in many respects were highly different from those of extant felids, and this has often been interpreted functionally as adaptations for predation at extreme gape angles with hypertrophied upper canines. It is unknown how much of this was a result of intraspecific postnatal ontogeny, since juveniles of sabercats are rare and no quantitative study has been made of craniomandibular ontogeny. Postnatal ontogenetic craniomandibular shape changes in two morphologically derived sabercats, Smilodon fatalis and S. populator, were analysed using geometric morphometrics and compared to three species of extant pantherines, the jaguar, tiger, and Sunda clouded leopard. Ontogenetic shape changes in Smilodon usually involved the same areas of the cranium and mandible as in extant pantherines, and large-scale modularization was similar, suggesting that such may have been the case for all felids, since it followed the same trends previously observed in other mammals. However, in other respects Smilodon differed from extant pantherines. Their crania underwent much greater and more localised ontogenetic shape changes than did the mandibles, whereas crania and mandibles of extant pantherines underwent smaller, fewer and less localised shape changes. Ontogenetic shape changes in the two species of Smilodon are largely similar, but differences are also present, notably those which may be tied to the presence of larger upper canines in S. populator. Several of the specialized cranial characters differentiating adult Smilodon from extant felids in a functional context, which are usually regarded as evolutionary adaptations for achieving high gape angles, are ontogenetic, and in several instances ontogeny appears to recapitulate phylogeny to some extent. No such ontogenetic evolutionary adaptive changes were found in the extant pantherines. Evolution in morphologically derived sabercats involved greater cranial ontogenetic changes than among extant felids, resulting in greatly modified adult craniomandibular morphologies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Making of a Monster: Postnatal Ontogenetic Changes in Craniomandibular Shape in the Great Sabercat Smilodon

Christiansen

2012

PLoS ONE

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“…Most hypotheses regarding the phylogeny of fossil sabre‐toothed cats are based on morphological characteristics, which include upper canine and craniomandibular morphologies as key characters (Werdelin et al ., ; Christiansen, ). Studying the evolution of upper canines on the premise of morphology‐based phylogeny may result in the need to consider possible circularity.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our analyses, branches reaching the extinct species were assumed to terminate at the midpoint of the putative existence period of the species [sources: Turner & Antón (), Werdelin et al . (), Antón (), Christiansen (), and Paijmans et al . ()].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the assumption of consistent directional selection in the lineage leading to Smilodon or Homotherium from the node at which the two lineages diverged, drsl 2 was set to all branches reaching the species of Smilodontini (branches coloured in blue in Figs , , S1, and S2), and drsl 3 was set to all branches reaching the species of Homotherini (branches coloured in red in Figs , , S1, and S2). All Machairodontinae sabre‐toothed cats are thought to originate from Pseudaelurus , which exhibited somewhat elongated upper canines (Antón, ; Christiansen, ), and thus it is plausible that directional selection occurred before the divergence of Smilodon from Homotherium within the Machairodontinae. We assigned either drsl 2 or drsl 3 to the branch between the basal node and the nodes at which Smilodon and Homotherium diverged (branches coloured in purple in Figs , , S1 and S2); drsl 2 was set to this branch in model 1, and drsl 3 was set to this branch in model 2.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phylogenetic analyses using techniques developed for ancient DNA analysis showed that the machairodont sabre‐toothed cats, Smilodon and Homotherium , branched off from the Felinae within the Felidae prior to the diversification of extant felids (Barnett et al ., ; Widga et al ., ; Paijmans et al ., ). The early fossil felids, which are considered common ancestors of the Machairodontinae and Felinae, lacked elongated upper canines (Turner & Antón, ; Christiansen, ). Thus, we hypothesized that upper canines became elongated through directional selection in the sabre‐toothed cat clade.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Directional selection in the evolution of elongated upper canines in clouded leopards and sabre‐toothed cats

Harano

Kutsukake

2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Extremely developed or specialized traits such as the elongated upper canines of extinct sabre-toothed cats are often not analogous to those of any extant species, which limits our understanding of their evolutionary cause. However, an extant species may have undergone directional selection for a similar extreme phenotype. Among living felids, the clouded leopard, Neofelis nebulosa, has exceptionally long upper canines for its body size. We hypothesized that directional selection generated the elongated upper canines of clouded leopards in a manner similar to the process in extinct sabre-toothed cats. To test this, we developed an approach that compared the effect of directional selection among lineages in a phylogeny using a simulation of trait evolution and approximate Bayesian computation. This approach was applied to analyse the evolution of upper canine length in the Felidae phylogeny. Our analyses consistently showed directional selection favouring longer upper canines in the clouded leopard lineage and a lineage leading to the sabre-toothed cat with the longest upper canines, Smilodon. Most of our analyses detected an effect of directional selection for longer upper canines in the lineage leading to another sabre-toothed cat, Homotherium, although this selection may have occurred exclusively in the primitive species. In all the analyses, the clouded leopard and Smilodon lineages showed comparable directional selection. This implies that clouded leopards share a selection advantage with sabre-toothed cats in having elongated upper canines.

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The Influence of Image Salience on the Artistic Renditions of Cave Lions in the Early Upper Paleolithic

Coss

2020

Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture

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The heuristic aim in this chapter is evaluating the neurobiological and behavioral evidence suggesting that humans retain ecologically relevant elements of felidpredator recognition shaped by natural selection that could influence the portrayals of large-bodied cats in prehistoric art. Emphasis will be given to identifying the salient visual properties of extinct cave lions (Panthera spelaea) that likely influenced the anatomical accuracy of their renditions in cave drawings and mobiliary figurines in the early Upper Paleolithic of Europe.Visual-image salience emerges primarily from the ecological context in which it is perceived. Such distinctiveness requires the perception of difference between the target of visual fixation and the surrounding features (cf. Nothdurft, 2007;Simons, 2000). This figure-background contrast applies to both the lowest level of neural organization and the highest level of perceptual organization that shapes the interaction of the organism with its environment. However, perceptual contrast alone does not account for why some images "pop out" from background settings. When viewed from the perspective of perceivers, image salience can be magnified by its meaningfulness in a particular setting that can reflect innate perceptual properties coupled with a history of prior exposure of its predictive properties in ecologically relevant circumstances. I will explore this conceptual framework of perceived context as I develop my argument for how salient visual features of dangerous felids influenced visual imagery, working memory, and artistic expression.

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Phylogeny of the sabertoothed felids (Carnivora: Felidae: Machairodontinae)

Cited by 37 publications

References 93 publications

The Making of a Monster: Postnatal Ontogenetic Changes in Craniomandibular Shape in the Great Sabercat Smilodon

The Making of a Monster: Postnatal Ontogenetic Changes in Craniomandibular Shape in the Great Sabercat Smilodon

Directional selection in the evolution of elongated upper canines in clouded leopards and sabre‐toothed cats

The Influence of Image Salience on the Artistic Renditions of Cave Lions in the Early Upper Paleolithic

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