Langebaanweg's sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae)

Here, we describe and revise craniodental material from Langebaanweg 'E' Quarry (South Africa, early Pliocene, ∼5.2 Ma), which represents one of the largest and best-preserved collections of sabertooth felids from Mio-Pliocene deposits of Africa. Four taxa, including two new species, are recognized: Lokotunjailurus chinsamyae sp. nov., Adeilosmilus aff. kabir, Yoshi obscura, and Dinofelis werdelini sp. nov. The felid guild composition analyzed herein suggests the presence of a mosaic environment with open components in the region, and shows a potential relationship with that of Yuanmou, suggesting a similar environment and/or dispersal route/event. The reassessment of the rich early Pliocene felids from Langebaanweg is a step toward understanding the transition and evolution of the felids in the southern hemisphere during the late Miocene to early Pliocene

The Fox from Bajiazui (Qingyang, Central China) and an Update on Early Pleistocene Foxes from China

(1) Background: despite the fact that nowadays the genus Vulpes Frisch, 1775, is the most diverse among extant Canidae, its fossil record is utterly scarce, especially in the Asian Pliocene. The sparse nature of this record further complicates the reconstruction of the evolutionary scenario to fit these taxa with extant species. The situation seems to change slightly in the Early Pleistocene when two species are recorded: Vulpes alopecoides (Del Campana, 1913) in Europe and Vulpes chikushanensis, Young, 1930, in Asian localities. Unlike the former, which has an extensive record, the remains of the Chinese V. chikushanensis are sporadic and the validity of the taxon has also been questioned. (2) Methods: the study of the specimens from the Early Pleistocene site of Bajiazui (1.8-1.2 Ma, Qingyang, Gansu) in comparison to an extensive sample of Vulpes spp. The Pliocene-Early Pleistocene is relevant for the delimitation of fossil foxes variability; (3) Results: morphologically and morphometrically, the specimens of Bajiazui fit with the specimens of V. chikushanensis from other Chinese localities of the Early Pleistocene, e.g., Longdan (Gansu) and Huiyu (Fangshang), highlighting some difference with the latest Early Pleistocene forms of Jigushan fox; (4) Conclusions: the revision of the Asian fossil record of Vulpes is crucial in our attempt to understand and reconstruct the evolution of carnivoran guild during the late Early Pleistocene (1.8-0.8 Ma). The fox remains from Bajiazui, although fragmentary, add a valuable piece to our knowledge of V. chikushanensis, a species possibly strongly related to the extant Vulpes corsac (Linnaeus, 1768)

Langebaanweg’s sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae)

Here, we describe and revise craniodental material from Langebaanweg ‘E’ Quarry (South Africa, early Pliocene, ∼5.2 Ma), which represents one of the largest and best-preserved collections of sabertooth felids from Mio-Pliocene deposits of Africa. Four taxa, including two new species, are recognized: Lokotunjailurus chinsamyae sp. nov., Adeilosmilus aff. kabir, Yoshi obscura, and Dinofelis werdelini sp. nov. The felid guild composition analyzed herein suggests the presence of a mosaic environment with open components in the region, and shows a potential relationship with that of Yuanmou, suggesting a similar environment and/or dispersal route/event. The reassessment of the rich early Pliocene felids from Langebaanweg is a step toward understanding the transition and evolution of the felids in the southern hemisphere during the late Miocene to early Pliocene.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónMinisterio de Ciencia e InnovaciónChinese Natural Science Foundation ProgramStrategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of SciencesGobierno de AragónGeneralitat de CatalunyaMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y UniversidadesUniversidad Complutense de MadridThe Genus (DSI-NRF CoE-Palaeo)Oppenheimer Memorial TrustDepto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

临夏盆地中新世一可能的新犬熊

Here we report a new form of amphicyonid from an uncertain locality in the Linxia Basin. The derived dental traits imply an affinity to Magericyon, previously known from Europe and possibly southern Asia. The specimen suggests a higher diversity of amphicyonids in eastern Asia than previously thought, and more discovery with stratigraphic information will be needed to elucidate the evolution of Amphicyonidae in eastern Asia.National Key Research and Development Program of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaMCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/Universidad Complutense de MadridDepto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

New carnivoran remains from the Early Pleistocene Shanshenmiaozui site in Nihewan Basin, northern China

In the Shanshenmiaozui (SSMZ) fauna from Nihewan Basin, Canis chihliensis, Nyctereutes sp., Homotherium sp., Acinonyx sp., Lynx shansius and Pachycrocuta licenti have been identified. C. chihliensis is the dominant and best represented species whose fossil materials include crania, mandibles and postcranials, including nearly complete manus and pes. The giant cheetah Acinonyx sp. is only represented by postcranial skeletons (scapula, radius, proximal ulna and an almost complete manus), which represent the richest collection for its kind ever known in China. Nyctereutes sp. is only represented by a partial cranium and distal part of a humerus. Homotherium sp. is only represented by a partial lower m1. Lynx shansius is represented by a nearly complete mandible with p3 and m1 preserved in situ. The fossil materials of Pachycrocuta licenti include a juvenile mandible with dp2–4 and m1 attached, an isolated dp4 and a partial ascending ramus. The SSMZ carnivoran guild resembles those of the classic Nihewan fauna (CNF) and the Dmanisi fauna, which means they probably have a similar geologic age or slightly younger of the SSMZ fauna; and they also share the same open grassland/shrubland habitat. The postcranial bones of C. chihliensis and Acinonyx sp. from SSMZ represent the first records for their kinds in China

Supplemental Material DeSantis et al: Assessing niche conservatism using a multi-proxy approach

Supplemental Materials including Supplemental Figure 1 and Supplemental Tables 1-4

The trunk replaces the longer mandible as the main feeding organ in elephant evolution

The long-trunked elephantids underwent a significant evolutionary stage characterized by an exceptionally elongated mandible. The initial elongation and subsequent regression of the long mandible, along with its co-evolution with the trunk, present an intriguing issue that remains incompletely understood. Through comparative functional and eco-morphological investigations, as well as feeding preference analysis, we reconstructed the feeding behavior of major groups of longirostrine elephantiforms. In the Platybelodon clade, the rapid evolutionary changes observed in the narial region, strongly correlated with mandible and tusk characteristics, suggest a crucial evolutionary transition where feeding function shifted from the mandible to the trunk, allowing proboscideans to expand their niches to more open regions. This functional shift further resulted in elephantids relying solely on their trunks for feeding. Our research provides insights into how unique environmental pressures shape the extreme evolution of organs, particularly in large mammals that developed various peculiar adaptations during the late Cenozoic global cooling trends

Artificial intelligence in paleontology

The accumulation of large datasets and increasing data availability have led to the emergence of data-driven paleontological studies, which reveal an unprecedented picture of evolutionary history. However, the fast-growing quantity and complication of data modalities make data processing laborious and inconsistent, while also lacking clear benchmarks to evaluate data collection and generation, and the performances of different methods on similar tasks. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has become widely practiced across scientific disciplines, but not so much to date in paleontology where traditionally manual workflows have been more usual. In this study, we review >70 paleontological AI studies since the 1980s, covering major tasks including micro- and macrofossil classification, image segmentation, and prediction. These studies feature a wide range of techniques such as Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS), neural networks, transfer learning, and many other machine learning methods to automate a variety of paleontological research workflows. Here, we discuss their methods, datasets, and performance and compare them with more conventional AI studies. We attribute the recent increase in paleontological AI studies most to the lowering of the entry bar in training and deployment of AI models rather than innovations in fossil data compilation and methods. We also present recently developed AI implementations such as diffusion model content generation and Large Language Models (LLMs) that may interface with paleontological research in the future. Even though AI has not yet been a significant part of the paleontologist's toolkit, successful implementation of AI is growing and shows promise for paradigm-transformative effects on paleontological research in the years to come