Pliocene Carnivora (Mammalia) from the Hadar Formation at Dikika, Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia

A fossil terrestrial fauna from Tobène (Senegal) provides a unique early Pliocene window in western Africa

“…Unfortunately, only one lower canine of Homotherium was published in the African fossil record (Geraads et al, 2015). Compared to this specimen of Homotherium hadarensis from Dikika (Ethiopia, 3.5-2.9 Ma according to Geraads et al, 2015), the Tobène specimen has a shorter root; it is also slenderer and shows a more pronounced curvature between crown and root in lateral view (Fig. 5F-G).…”

“…Another Moroccan locality, Ahl Al Oughlam, is much more diverse but also more recent (about 2.5 Ma; Geraads et al, 2010). Some Pliocene localities in Tunisia have yielded large mammals such as the base of the Hamada Damous (Coppens, 1971b), the Garaet Ichkeul and Aïn Brimba , 2009, Reed, 2008, Geraads et al 2015, ii) in Kenya, in the Turkana basin (e.g., Apak Member in Nachukui Fm., Kanapoi and Allia Bay;McDougall andFeibel, 2003, Harris et al 2003) and in the Tugen Hills ( Mabaget and Chemeron Fm. ; Gilbert et al, 2011), iii) in Tanzania (Lower Laetolil beds;…”

Plio‐Pleistocene mammals from Mille‐Logya, Ethiopia, and the post‐Hadar faunal change

“…These features might fit a large Crocuta such as C. eturono , but all teeth are inserted almost vertically in bone, whereas I3 and the canine are more obliquely set in Crocuta . This suggests a deeper snout than in this genus, more like Pachycrocuta , a genus that has been described from eastern and southern Africa (Werdelin, 1999; Turner and Antón, 1996), but whose presence at Hadar is uncertain (Geraads et al ., 2015). Because this identification is not contradicted by the tooth morphology, we tentatively assign it to this genus.…”

Rediscovering Lutra lutra from Grotta Romanelli (southern Italy) in the framework of the puzzling evolutionary history of Eurasian otter

“…Lutra sumatrana: m n/a (Pohle 1919); n ZM CN4494 (Zyll de Yong, 1972). Cyrnaonyx antiqua: o-q BM M 34,378 and BM M 50,709 from Tornetown Cave (Willemsen 1992); p Ke RM 226 from Maasvlakte (Willemsen 1992) Despite several fossil otters have been referred to Lutra over the years, many of them are now reassigned to other genera, whereas "Lutra" is retained mainly for ease of reference for taxa of uncertain taxonomy (Willemsen 1992;Cherin et al 2016), recognizing its paraphyletic nature (Geraads et al 2015). L. simplicidens has a relatively abundant fossil record, compared to other Pleistocene Lutrinae.…”

“…However, if Lontra occurred in North American deposits since the Pliocene (Prassack 2016), placing the first appearance of Lutra in a chronological framework is on the contrary complicated by the use of the genus either as a waste-basket taxon, or in sensu lato, to allocate specimens of uncertain affinities and/or Lutra-like morphology (Willemsen 1992; Geraads et al 2015;Cherin et al 2016). In Handling Editor: Irina Ruf.…”