Studies of fossil hyaenids: the identity of Lycyaenops rhomboideae Kretzoi from Pesztlörinc, Hungary

• The holotype of the lower-middle Pliocene hyaenid Lycyaenops rhomboideae is redescribed and compared with contemporaneous hyaenids of the genera Lycyaena, Hyaenictis, Chasmaporthetes and Pliocrocuta. These comparisons show that the material represents a valid and distinct genus and species. The genus Lycyaenops is referred to the Chasmaporthetes lineage on the basis of its two-cusped ml talonid with reduced entoconid, reduced posterolingual cingulum cusp on p4 and premolar accessory cusps set in a straight line. It is distinguished from all other genera of that lineage by its smaller premolar accessory cusps, broad premolars and squaredoff and very broad posterior premolar shelves. The species L. silberbergi, previously assigned to Chasmaporthetes, is also referred to Lycyaenops. It differs from L. rhomboideae in its greater development of the premolar accessory cusps and less developed posterior premolar shelves, but shares the broad, squared-offpremolars. The interrelationships of Hyaenictis, Chasmaporthetes and Lycyaenops are at present best described by an unresolved trichotomy, with Lycyaena as its sister taxon.

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

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

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