Turnover in the guild of larger carnivores in Eurasia across the Miocene-Pliocene boundary

• There is considerable turnover of the mammalian fauna of western Eurasia fromthe Turolian to the mid-Villafranchian (MN 11 - 17; ca 8.5 - 2.0 Ma), particularly among the Carnivora where 31 of 34 species (92%) known from MN 13 are extinct by MN 14. This event affected all carnivore families and led to marked changes in guild structure. In MN 13 and earlier hyaenas had occupied niches for cursorial and semi-cursorial medium-sized scavengers. These species were replaced by canids, which had migrated to Eurasia from North America towards the end of the Miocene. Conical toothed cats, rare in the late Miocene, became more common from MN 14 onwards. The reason for these changes is not well understood, but they occur against a backdrop of continuous change in the physical environment that must have impinged on mammalian evolution in general. A major impediment to better understanding is the relative dearth of MN 14 faunas in western Europe, but the results of continuing studies of Mio-Pliocene mammalian faunas in China may help to address this problem.

Subject headings

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

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

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)