Author:
Bartolini-Lucenti Saverio,Madurell-Malapeira Joan,Martínez-Navarro Bienvenido,Palmqvist Paul,Lordkipanidze David,Rook Lorenzo
Abstract
AbstractThe renowned site of Dmanisi in Georgia, southern Caucasus (ca. 1.8 Ma) yielded the earliest direct evidence of hominin presence out of Africa. In this paper, we report on the first record of a large-sized canid from this site, namely dentognathic remains, referable to a young adult individual that displays hypercarnivorous features (e.g., the reduction of the m1 metaconid and entoconid) that allow us to include these specimens in the hypodigm of the late Early Pleistocene species Canis (Xenocyon) lycaonoides. Much fossil evidence suggests that this species was a cooperative pack-hunter that, unlike other large-sized canids, was capable of social care toward kin and non-kin members of its group. This rather derived hypercarnivorous canid, which has an East Asian origin, shows one of its earliest records at Dmanisi in the Caucasus, at the gates of Europe. Interestingly, its dispersal from Asia to Europe and Africa followed a parallel route to that of hominins, but in the opposite direction. Hominins and hunting dogs, both recorded in Dmanisi at the beginning of their dispersal across the Old World, are the only two Early Pleistocene mammal species with proved altruistic behaviour towards their group members, an issue discussed over more than one century in evolutionary biology.
Funder
Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Generalitat de Catalunya
Synthesys Project
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Georgian National Science Foundation
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
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