Promegantereon ogygia: a Miocene Neogene Machairodont Sabre Tooth Cat

Promegantereon ogygia (Felidae, Machairodontinae, Smilodontini) from the Vallesian (late Miocene, MN 10) of Spain: morphological and functional differences in two noncontemporary populations

Authors:

Siliceo et al

Abstract:

We compare two populations of the primitive saber-toothed felid Promegantereon ogygia from the late Miocene (Vallesian, MN 10) of Spain. These populations come from two fossil sites, Batallones-1 and Batallones-3, located very close to each other, within the Cerro de los Batallones complex. The sites show differences in age and in their faunal assemblages, with Batallones-1 being older than Batallones-3. We find that the population from this latter site shows slightly derived characters in both dentition and postcranial elements, which clearly indicate evolution within the Promegantereon lineage, but are not strong enough to support a separation at the species level.