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The brain of the North American cheetah-like cat Miracinonyx trumani

The brain of the North American cheetah-like cat Miracinonyx trumani

Authors :
Borja Figueirido
Alejandro Pérez-Ramos
Anthony Hotchner
David M. Lovelace
Francisco J. Pastor
Paul Palmqvist
Source :
iScience, Vol 25, Iss 12, Pp 105671- (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Elsevier, 2022.

Abstract

Summary: The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus, the fastest living land mammal, is an atypical member of the family Felidae. The extinct feline Miracinonyx trumani, known as the North American cheetah, is thought to have convergently evolved with Acinonyx to pursue fast and open-country prey across prairies and steppe environments of the North American Pleistocene. The brain of Acinonyx is unique among the living felids, but it is unknown whether the brain of the extinct M. trumani is convergent to that of Acinonyx. Here, we investigate the brain of M. trumani from a cranium endocast, using a comparative sample of other big cats. We demonstrate that the brain of M. trumani was different from that of the living A. jubatus. Indeed, its brain shows a unique combination of traits among living cats. This suggests that the case of extreme convergence between Miracinonyx and its living Old World vicar should be reconsidered.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
25890042
Volume :
25
Issue :
12
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
iScience
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.58f60dc6b0d046368fa894a4041269f6
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105671