Hyaenodon

Abstract: Our general understanding of hyaenodontid phylogeny and classification, particularly the division between the phylogenetically and morphologically primitive Proviverrinae and the derived Hyaenodontinae, has been fairly stable since Matthew laid down its framework in the early 20th century. However, a wealth of material described since that time allows Matthew's conclusions to be re-examined. Adding to that wealth is a new skeleton of Gazinocyon vulpeculus gen. et comb. nov. The postcranium of this specimen indicates that this animal was probably incipiently cursorial. The hindlimb morphology suggests that motion in the ankle was restricted to a parasagittal plane and that the animal was digitigrade. The forelimb is less completely preserved, making its functional ability more difficult to assess. Cladistic analysis suggests that Gazinocyon was related to a clade containing Eurotherium, Propterodon, Hyaenodon, and “Pterodon” hyaenoides. It also suggests that Hyaenodontinae (containing Pterodon, Hy...

Abstract: Fieldwork in the 1990s produced a few records of carnivorous mammals (creodonts and carnivorans) in the early Oligocene through early Miocene of Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province, China. Although only five taxa are known so far, most represented by fragmentary material, the new carnivore assemblage is unique and shows little resemblance to faunas elsewhere in eastern Asia. The early Oligocene record is represented by a single premolar of a Hyaenodon, referable to H. pervagus. In the early Miocene, a new species of Hyaenodon, H. weilini sp. nov., represented by several cheek teeth, is the last record of this genus in east Asia. A horizontal ramus of an amphicyonid, here identified as Ictiocyon cf. I. socialis, is the first record of this taxon in Asia, and a very small musteloid lower carnassial, although difficult to identify to genus, is clearly a new record because nothing of this small size has been known in Asia. The overall faunal composition seems to suggest affinity with northern Eurasia rather than southern Asia. Xiaoming Wang. Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90007, United States xwang@nhm.org Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 643, Beijing 100044, China. Zhanxiang Qiu. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 643, Beijing 100044, China. qiuzhanxiang@ivpp.ac.cn Banyue Wang. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 643, Beijing 100044, China. wangbanyue@ivpp.ac.cn