The carnivores of Rudabánya

• Fossils from the late Miocene (MN 9) assemblage of Rudabánya (Hungary) attributed to the order Carnivora are described. A minimum of 17 species-level taxa have been identified, representing eight carnivoran families: Ursidae, Procyonidae, Amphicyonidae, Mustelidae, Viverridae, Nimravidae, Felidae, and Hyaenidae. Of these, the Mustelidae is by far the most diverse, with a minimum of seven species-level taxa. There may be some new taxa among the Amphicyonidae and Mustelidae of Rudabánya, but they have not been named here due to the limited available material. The most surprising aspect of the Rudabánya carnivoran assemblage lies in the dearth of hyaenas. Only some fragmentary specimens tentatively assigned to cf. Thalassictis montadai are present, in contrast to contemporaneous localities, which generally include relatively abundant material of one or two species of hyaenid. The carnivoran diversity at Rudabánya is matched among MN 9 localities only by Can Llobateres in Spain, which records 24 species-level taxa. The carnivoran assemblages of these two localities are very similar, both in species content and in trophic structure. Differences include the presence at Can Llobateres of Machairodus and Indarctos, as well as species of the hyaenid genus Protictitherium, and a variety of endemic small mustelids. These differences can be accounted for by the more isolated geographic location of Can Llobateres, leading to greater endemicity, as well as an apparently greater environmental heterogeneity, leading to the presence of derived species characteristic of somewhat more open environments than apparently present at Rudabánya.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Zoologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Zoology (hsv//eng)

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