RETRACTED: A primitive Late Pliocene cheetah, and evolution of the cheetah lineage

Abstract

The cheetah lineage is a group of large, slender, and long-limbed cats with a distinctive skull and dental morphology, of which only the extant cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) is present today. The lineage is characterized by having abbreviated, tall, and domed crania, and a trenchant dentition with a much reduced, posteriorly placed protocone on the upper carnassial. In this article, we report on a new discovery of a Late Pliocene specimen from China with an estimated age of ≈2.2–2.5 million years, making it one of the oldest specimens known to date. A cladistic analysis confirmed that it is the most primitive cheetah known, and it shares a number of unambiguous derived cranial traits with the Acinonyx lineage, but has more primitive dentition than previously known cheetahs, demonstrating that the many unusual skull and dental characters hitherto considered characteristic of cheetahs evolved in a gradual fashion. Isolated teeth of primitive cheetahs may not be recognizable as such, but can be confused with, for instance, those of leopards or other similar-sized pantherine cats or pumas. The age and morphology of the new specimen supports an Old World origin of the cheetah lineage, not a New World one, as has been suggested. We name the new species Acinonyx kurteni in honor of the late Björn Kurtén.

Evolutionary trends on extant cat skull morphology (Carnivora: Felidae): a three-dimensional geometrical approach

“…Felis nigripes , notwithstanding, also has a marked influence of the ‘round‐headed small cats' skull pattern. The skulls of the fossil cheetah‐like species Miracinonyx inexpectatus , Miracinonyx trumani , and Acinonyx kurteni (not included in this study) follow the same stout skull pattern of the extant Acinonyx jubatus , despite the size differences (Adams, 1979; Turner & Antón, 1997; Christiansen & Mazak, 2009). This pattern is characterized by a high domed, short‐lengthened and laterally widened skull.…”

Skull morphology and functionality of extant Felidae (Mammalia: Carnivora): a phylogenetic and evolutionary perspective

“…The body temperature of cheetahs at the end of a sprint is close to 41 °C (Hildebrand, 1959; Taylor & Rowntree, 1973), and a large frontal sinus with a developed vascular surface could also perform an important role in preventing dangerous heating of the brain. This marked hypertrophied frontal sinus is conspicuous along the cheetah evolutionary lineage (Christiansen & Mazák, 2009). A phylogenetic contrast analyses between frontal sinus and limb adaptations for fast running, as well as their paleodistribution, should be addressed to enlighten a possible coevolution of these traits along the cheetah lineage.…”

Cranial ontogeny in the Puma lineage,Puma concolor,Herpailurus yagouaroundi, andAcinonyx jubatus(Carnivora: Felidae): a three-dimensional geometric morphometric approach

“…is from 3.8-3.4 Mya (Werdelin et al, 2010). An additional extinct genus in the clade, Miracinonyx, includes Miracinonyx trumani as a sister group of P. concolor, according to molecular evidence (Barnett et al, 2005), or a sister group of A. jubatus, according to morphological evidence (Van Valkenburgh, Grady & Kurtén, 1990;Christiansen & Mazák, 2009). In any case, this apparent contradiction does not modify the relationships between the living taxa considered in this work.…”