''Chasmaporthetes'', also known as hunting or running hyena, is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...

s distributed in

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

, North America, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

epochs, living from 4.9 million to 780,000 years ago, existing for about . The genus probably arose from Eurasian

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

hyenas such as ''Thalassictis'' or ''Lycyaena'', with ''C. borissiaki'' being the oldest known representative.Kurtén, Björn (1980) ''Pleistocene mammals of North America'', p. 199, Columbia University Press, 1980, The species ''C. ossifragus'' was the only hyena to cross the

Bering land bridge Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip o ...

into the Americas, and ranged over what is now

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

and

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

during

Blancan The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years BP, a period of .Irvingtonian The Irvingtonian North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), spanning from 1.9 million – 250,000 years BP.

Land Mammal ages, between 5.0 and 1.5 million years ago.Macdonald, David (1992) ''The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores'', p. 119-144, New York: Parkwest, ''Chasmaporthetes'' was one of the so-called "dog-like" hyenas (of which the

aardwolf The aardwolf (''Proteles cristata'') is an insectivorous species of hyena, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth-wolf" in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is also called maanhaar-jackal (Afrikaans for " mane-jackal"), termite-eat ...

is the only survivor), a hyaenid group which, in contrast to the now more common "bone-crushing" hyenas, evolved into slender-limbed, cursorial hunters like modern canids.

Taxonomy and etymology

''Chasmaporthetes'' was named (from

chasm In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben wi ...

and the Greek (), "destroyer, ravager") by Hay (1921), who noted that the name meant that the North American species, ''Chasmaporthetes ossifragus'' (the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

) possibly saw the beginning of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a ...

Species

At least nine species are currently recognised: *''Chasmaporthetes ossifragus''

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

, 1921 - North America,

*''C. australis'' Hendey, 1974 - Africa, Late

*''C. bonisi'' Koufos, 1987 - Greece, Late Miocene *''C. borissiaki'' Khomenko, 1932 - Russia, Pliocene (disputed) *''C. exitelus'' Kurtén & Werdelin, 1988 - China, Late Miocene *''C. gangsriensis'' Tseng, Li, & Wang, 2013 - Asia, Early Pliocene *''C. lunensis'' Del Campana, 1914 - Eurasia, Late Miocene to Early Pleistocene *''C. melei'' Rook ''et al'', 2004 -

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

, Early Pleistocene *''C. nitidula'' Geraads, 1997 - Africa, Pliocene to Early Pleistocene

Anatomy and paleoecology

The limb bones of ''Chasmaporthetes'' were long and slender like those of cheetahs, and its cheek teeth were slender and sharp-edged like those of a cat. ''Chasmaporthetes'' likely inhabited open ground and was a daytime hunter. In Europe, the species ''C. lunensis'' competed with the giant cheetah '' Acinonyx pardinensis'', and may have preyed on the small Bourbon gazelle (''Gazella borbonica'') and the chamois antelope ('' Procamptoceras brivatense'').Kurtén, Björn (1968) ''Pleistocene mammals of Europe'', p. 68-69, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968 The North American ''C. ossifragus'' was similar in build to ''C. lunensis'', but had slightly more robust jaws and teeth. It may have preyed on the giant marmot ''

Paenemarmota ''Paenemarmota'' is an extinct genus of ground squirrel from North America. Fossils are known from the Blancan and Hemphillian age from localities in Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. At around the size of a beaver, ''Paenemarmota'' ...

'', and competed with the far more numerous '' Borophagus diversidens''. A study on the genus'

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

intercuspid notches indicated ''Chasmaporthetes'' was likely hypercarnivorous rather than durophagous as its modern cousins (excluding the

) are.A. Hartstone-Rose (2011) ''Reconstructing the diets of extinct South African carnivorans from premolar ‘intercuspid notch’ morphology'', Journal of Zoology, Vol. 284 Issue 2

References

External links

Anton, M., Turner, A., Salesa, M. J., Morales, J. ''A complete skull of Chasmaporthetes lunensis (Carnivora, Hyaenidae) from the Spanish Pliocene site of La Puebla de Valverde (Teruel)'' Estudios Geol., Vol. 62, n.º 1, 375-388, enero-diciembre 2006
{{Taxonbar, from=Q137581 Prehistoric hyenas Pliocene carnivorans Pleistocene carnivorans Pleistocene genus extinctions Prehistoric carnivoran genera Fossil taxa described in 1921 Ringold Formation Miocene Fauna