Crocuta Explained

Crocuta is a genus of hyena containing the largest extant member of the family, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Several fossil species are also known, with the Pleistocene Eurasian cave hyenas either being regarded as distinct species or subspecies of the spotted hyena.

Taxonomy

It is still unclear whether the genus evolved in Africa or Asia, although the oldest known fossils are from Africa and dated to about 3.8 mya.[1] The earliest remains from Asia currently attributed to the genus is Crocuta honanensis from the Early Pleistocene of China dating to around 2.5-2.2 million years ago, but its relationship to the living spotted hyena is ambiguous. Crocuta first appears in Europe around 800,000 years ago at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, replacing the giant hyena Pachycrocuta.[2]

The Eurasian "cave hyenas" (Crocuta spelaea, Crocuta ultima and others) have either been considered subspecies of the living spotted hyena, or as distinct species.[3] Genetic analysis of cave hyenas have found them to be strongly genetically divergent from living African spotted hyenas, albeit with some evidence of limited interbreeding between the two populations.[4]

Two extinct species are known to have coexisted with each other in eastern Africa during the Pliocene; Crocuta eturono and Crocuta dietrichi, each one probably occupying a different niche in regards to their preference for scavenging or hunting.[5] In Ahl al Oughlam, a Pliocene site in Morocco, lived the species Crocuta dbaa.[6] In China there was a Pliocene species, Crocuta honanensis,[7] The holotype of Crocuta sivalensis from the Indian subcontinent has been determined to be a specimen of Pliocrocuta and unrelated to Crocuta proper.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Rao . Huiyun . Palaeoproteomic analysis of Pleistocene cave hyenas from east Asia . Scientific Reports . 2020 . 10 . 1 . 16674 . 10.1038/s41598-020-73542-x . 33028848 . 7541484 .
  2. Iannucci . Alessio . Mecozzi . Beniamino . Sardella . Raffaele . Iurino . Dawid Adam . November 2021 . The extinction of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris and a reappraisal of the Epivillafranchian and Galerian Hyaenidae in Europe: Faunal turnover during the Early–Middle Pleistocene Transition . Quaternary Science Reviews . en . 272 . 107240 . 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107240. 2021QSRv..27207240I .
  3. Lewis . Margaret E. . Werdelin . Lars . 2022-04-14 . A revision of the genus Crocuta (Mammalia, Hyaenidae) . Palaeontographica Abteilung A . 322 . 1–4 . 1–115 . 2022PalAA.322....1L . 10.1127/pala/2022/0120 . 0375-0442.
  4. Westbury . Michael V. . Hartmann . Stefanie . Barlow . Axel . Preick . Michaela . Ridush . Bogdan . Nagel . Doris . Rathgeber . Thomas . Ziegler . Reinhard . Baryshnikov . Gennady . Sheng . Guilian . Ludwig . Arne . Wiesel . Ingrid . Dalen . Love . Bibi . Faysal . Werdelin . Lars . 2020-03-13 . Hyena paleogenomes reveal a complex evolutionary history of cross-continental gene flow between spotted and cave hyena . . 6 . 11 . eaay0456 . 2020SciA....6..456W . 10.1126/sciadv.aay0456 . 2375-2548 . 7069707 . 32201717.
  5. Coca-Ortega . Carlos . Pérez-Claros . Juan Antonio . Characterizing ecomorphological patterns in hyenids: a multivariate approach using postcanine dentition . PeerJ . 2019 . 6 . e6238 . 10.7717/peerj.6238 . 30648005 . 6330948 . free .
  6. Geraads . Denis . Alemseged . Zeresenay . Bobe . René . Reed . Denné . July 2015 . Pliocene Carnivora (Mammalia) from the Hadar Formation at Dikika, Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia . . en . 107 . 28–35 . 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.03.020 . 2015JAfES.107...28G . 10 January 2024 . Elsevier Science Direct.
  7. Sheng . Gui-Lian . Pleistocene Chinese cave hyenas and the recent Eurasian history of the spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta . Molecular Ecology . 2013 . 23 . 3 . 522–533 . 10.1111/mec.12576. 24320717 . 25812110 .
  8. Werdelin . Lars . Lewis . Margaret E. . The taxonomic identity of the type specimen of Crocuta sivalensis (Falconer, 1867) . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 2012 . 32 . 6 . 1453–1456 . 10.1080/02724634.2012.694593. 2012JVPal..32.1453W . 83475651 .

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