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A revision of the fossil Canidae (Mammalia) of north‐western Africa
Author(s) -
GERAADS DENIS
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
palaeontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1475-4983
pISSN - 0031-0239
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01039.x
Subject(s) - vulpes , pleistocene , jackal , paleontology , early pleistocene , clade , dentition , zoology , genus , geography , biology , phylogenetics , predation , biochemistry , gene
The fossil record of the Canidae in North‐western Africa begins near the Miocene–Pliocene boundary with a form close to Nyctereutes , a genus best known in the late Pliocene of Ahl al Oughlam. This site yields two other canids. Vulpes hassani sp. nov. is a small fox, probably ancestral to the modern V. rueppelli , recorded from the Middle Pleistocene onwards. Lupulella paralius sp. nov. is a primitive jackal that probably belongs to the clade of modern African jackals. In the middle Pleistocene, the most common canid is Lupulella mohibi sp. nov., remarkable by its Nyctereutes ‐like dentition and primitive skull‐features. These are all endemic forms, but V. vulpes and C. aureus , of northern origin, appear in the course of the middle Pleistocene. Lycaon has a sparse record in the middle and late Pleistocene.