Family Amphicyonidae Phylum Chordata Rank Genus | Suborder Caniformia Higher classification Bear dog Order Carnivores | |
Similar Mammal, Bear dog, Carnivores, Simocyon batalleri, Simocyon | ||
Magericyon is an extinct genus of Amphicyonid ("bear-dog") that lived during the Miocene 10-9 Ma (Vallesian Age) in what is now Spain.
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Description
The appearance of this animal was vaguely similar to that of a particularly robust, large felid, but the skull resembles that of a canid or an ursid, like that of many amphicyonids. Unlike most other amphicyonids, Magericyon had teeth associated with those of a hypercarnivore, with laterally flattened canines, the third premolar having a single root, the absence of second premolars and a metaconid on its lower molars, with a reduction in the second upper molar. The scapula and the front leg showed primitive features such as an acromion in the shoulder with a reduced caudoventral projection and post scapular pit.
Classification
Magericyon was described for the first time in 2008 , based on fossils found in Cerro de los Batallones in Spain. The type species is Magericyon anceps, but a second species has also been attributed to the genus as M. castellanus, described in 1981 and initially attributed to the genus Amphicyon. Magericyon is part of the family of amphicyonidae, a group of very common carnivores ranging from the Eocene to the Miocene, and which occupied many different ecological niches. Magericyon is the last amphicyonid known from Western Europe, but its features are mixed; on one hand the teeth were very specialized, while on the other, front limb and morphology of the scapula was more primitive. Evidence also indicates that Magericyon was closely related to Amphicyon.
Paleobiology
Magericyon occupied a different ecological niche than other amphicyonids, such as the larger Amphicyon and Ysengrinia (which had lifestyles more akin to bears) or Daphoenodon and Temnocyon of North America, which were more capable runners. Magericyon probably lived in a similar manner to that of modern felines, being an ambush hunter of large prey.
Paleoecology
As a predator at Cerro de los Battalones, Magericyon would have hunted many of the large herbivores of the time as well as the young of much larger animals. Such herbivores that it could hunt would have included horses like Hipparion, young of the hornless rhinoceros Aceratherium and the gomphotheriid mastodon Tetralophodon, the suid Microstonyx, and possibly the calves of silvatherid giraffes and boselaphine antelopes. Magericyon would have competed for such prey with the rival sabertooth cats Machairodus, Promegantereon and Paramachairodus, the bear Indarctos, and the small hyenid Protictitherium. While the much larger Indarctos and Machairodus would likely have been strongly competitive with for food and would likely have fought with it or potentially driven it from its kills when they sensed an opportunity, Paramachairodus, Promegantereon and Protictitherium meanwhile, likely were less dangerous rivals that could be driven away or fought off. Magericyon would have also wasted no time in stealing a meal from any of the smaller carnivores.