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| Evolution of the aeluroid Carnivora. Significance of auditory structure in the nimravid cat Dinictis. American Museum novitates ; no. 2886 |
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| Title: | Evolution of the aeluroid Carnivora. Significance of auditory structure in the nimravid cat Dinictis. American Museum novitates ; no. 2886 |
| Other Titles: | Significance of auditory structure in the nimravid cat Dinictis Aeluroid Carnivora |
| Authors: | Hunt, Robert M., Jr. |
| Issue Date: | 1987 |
| Publisher: | New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History |
| Series/Report no.: | American Museum novitates ; no. 2886 |
| Abstract: | "Evolutionary lineages among living and extinct Carnivora can be identified by a diagnostic pattern of ontogenetic elements forming the auditory bulla enclosing the middle ear, best observed in newborn and juvenile animals. However, in the fossil record, the delicate unfused bulla parts of very young carnivorans are rarely preserved. Thus bulla composition in extinct lineages is difficult to determine unless juveniles with well-preserved auditory bullae can be found. Discovery in 1981 of an intact cranium of a juvenile aeluroid carnivoran (Dinictis) from the White River Group (Oligocene) in northwestern Nebraska has resulted in an improved understanding of bulla structure in Nimravidae, extinct catlike carnivorans of the Oligocene and Miocene of the northern continents. Bulla structure indicates that nimravids are not close relatives of the living cats (Felidae), nor are they ancestral to them. Analysis of the auditory region supports the view of Piveteau (1931) and Teilhard (1945) tha... |
| Description: | 74 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-74). |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2246/5217 |
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