A new gigantic carnivore (Carnivora, Amphicyonidae) from the late middle Miocene of France

Abstract

Serravallian terrestrial vertebrates are very uncommon in the northern margin of the Pyrenean Mountains. A mandible of a new large sized amphicyonid (ca. 200 kg) is here described from the marine deposits of Sallepisse (12.8–12.0 Mya). Despite that this new taxon is close in size to some European amphicyonids from the Miocene (e.g., Amphicyon, Megamphicyon, and Magericyon), the unique morphology of its p4, unknown in this clade, allows the erection of the new genus Tartarocyon cazanavei nov. gen. & sp. This taxon may be derived from a Cynelos-type amphicyonine. The description of this new taxon highlights the erosion of the ecological and morphological diversity of the Amphicyonidae in response to well-known Miocene events (i.e., Proboscidean Datum Event, Middle Miocene Climatic Transition, Vallesian Crisis).