IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Berta, A. | |
| The status of Smilodon in North and South America | |
| 1985 Contributions in Science: 1-15 | |
South American representatives of the sabercat genus _Smilodon_ (Felidae, Machairondontinae, Smilodontini) are referred to a single species, _Smilodon populator_ Lund, 1842, from Pleistocene (?Uquian, Ensenadan-Lujanian) localities in Argentinia, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay. North American _Smilodon_ from Pleistocene (late Irvingtonian-Rancholabrean) deposits are also assigned to _S. populator_. Diagnostic characters of _S. populator_ include: large size, skull with broad muzzle; upper canines strongly recurved; upper canines and cheek teeth with finely serrated anterior and posterior margins; P4 with very reduced protocone; mandible usually with single, large mental foramen; mandibular flange greatly reduced. Variation was noted in several characters; smaller size, triangular occiput, and P3 were more common among middle Pleistocene (Ensenadan and Irvingtonian) samples of _S. populator_. During the late Pleistocene, South American populations displayed a larger mean size than their North American contemporaries. _Smilodon gracilis_ (Cope, 1880) is a more primitive related form known from the late Pliocene (Blancan) through the middle Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) of North America. The derived species _S. populator_, apparently evolved in North America during the middle Pleistocene (late Irvingtonian) and spread into South America. As in North America, _Smilodon_ became extinct in the southern continent at the end of the late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean and Lujanian, respectively). |
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