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diff --git a/30260-0.txt b/30260-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6255d6d --- /dev/null +++ b/30260-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,172 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30260 *** + +UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS + +MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY + +Volume 14, No. 10, pp. 135-138, 2 figs. + +April 30, 1962 + + +A New Doglike Carnivore, Genus Cynarctus, +From the Clarendonian, Pliocene, of Texas + +BY + +E. RAYMOND HALL and WALTER W. DALQUEST + + +UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS + +LAWRENCE + +1962 + + + + +UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY + +Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch, +Theodore H. Eaton, Jr. + + +Volume 14, No. 10, pp. 135-138, 2 figs. +Published April 30, 1962 + +UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS +Lawrence, Kansas + +PRINTED BY + +JEAN M. NEIBARGER, STATE PRINTER + +TOPEKA, KANSAS + +1962 + +29-2890 + + + + +A New Doglike Carnivore, Genus Cynarctus, +From the Clarendonian, Pliocene, of Texas + +BY + +E. RAYMOND HALL and WALTER W. DALQUEST + + +A study of a right maxilla bearing P3-M1 and part of a right mandibular +ramus bearing m2 (see figures) reveals the existence of an unnamed +species of cynarctine carnivore. It may be known as: + +=Cynarctus fortidens= new species + + _Holotype._--Right maxilla bearing P3, P4, and M1, No. 11353 + KU; bluff on west side of Turkey Creek, approximately 75 + feet above stream, Raymond Farr Ranch, Center NE, NE, S. 48 + Blk. C-3, E. L. and R. R. Ry. Co., Donley County, Texas + [approximately 6.5 miles north and 1 mile east of + Clarendon], Clarendon fauna, Early Pliocene age. Obtained by + W. W. Dalquest, on June 25, 1960. + + _Referred material._--Fragment of right lower mandible + bearing m2, No. 11354 KU (see fig. 2), found about two feet + horizontally distant from the holotype in the same stratum + as the holotype and on the same date by the same collector + (a staff member of the Department of Biology of Midwestern + University, Wichita Falls, Texas). + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. _Cynarctus fortidens_, No. 11353 KU (Midwestern +Univ. No. 2044). Lateral view of holotype × 1, and occlusal view of +check-teeth × 2.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. _Cynarctus fortidens_, No. 11354 KU (Midwestern +Univ. No. 2045). Lateral view of right lower mandible and m2 × 1 and +oblique occlusal view of m2 × 2.] + + _Diagnosis._--Size large (see measurements); no accessory + cusp between protocone and paracone of fourth upper + premolar; first upper molar longer than broad and lacking + cingulum on part of tooth lingual to protocone. + + _Comparisons._--From _Cynarctus crucidens_ Barbour and Cook + (see page 225 of Two New Fossil Dogs of the Genus Cynarctus + from Nebraska. Nebraska Geol. Surv., 4(pt. 15):223-227, + 1914; also pages 330 and 338 of Dental Morphologie of the + Procyonidae with a Description of Cynarctoides, Gen. Nov. + Geol. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., 6:323-339, 10 figs., + October 31, 1938) _C. fortidens_ differs in lacking, instead + of having, an accessory cusp between the protocone and + paracone of the fourth upper premolar and in lacking, + instead of having, a cingulum on the part of P4 that is + internal (lingual) to the protocone. + + _Remarks._--The lower jaw and its second molar seem to be + from an individual significantly larger than the holotype. + Possibly the lower jaw and upper jaw are from two species but + the lower jaw probably is from a male and the upper jaw from + a female of the same species. + + Reasons for regarding _Cynarctus_ as belonging to the family + Canidae instead of to the family Procyonidae have been stated + recently in detail by E. C. Galbreath (Remarks on + _Cynarctoides acridens_ from the Miocene of Colorado. Trans. + Kansas Acad. Sci., 59(3):373-378, 1 fig., October 31, 1956) + and need not be repeated here. Although some uncertainty + remains as to the familial position of _Cynarctus_, we favor + Galbreath's view that the genus belongs in the family + Canidae. + + The holotype of _Cynarctus crucidens_ is from Williams + Canyon, Brown County, Nebraska. According to C. B. Schultz + (_in litt._, December 6, 1961), Williams Canyon is a + tributary of Plumb Creek; the upper part of the Valentine + formation and the younger lower part of the Ash Hollow + formation are exposed in Williams Canyon; which one of these + formations yielded the holotype of _C. crucidens_ is unknown. + + On the basis of the correlation chart (Pl. 1 in Nomenclature + and Correlation of the North American Continental Tertiary. + Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 52(pt. 1):1-48, 1941) by H. E. Wood + 2nd _et al._, _C. fortidens_ and _C. crucidens_ are + equivalent in age or _C. fortidens_ is the younger. + + The rounded summits of the principal cusps of the teeth of + _C. fortidens_ suggests that it was mainly frugivorous + instead of carnivorous--more frugivorous by far than the + living gray fox, _Urocyon cinereoargenteus_, that is known to + eat substantial amounts of fruits and berries. Indeed, no + other canid that we know of has teeth so much adapted to a + frugivorous diet as are those of _C. fortidens_. Its degree + of adaptation to a frugivorous diet is more than in the + procyonid genus _Nasua_ but less than in the procyonid genus + _Bassaricyon_. + + _Measurements_ (of crowns) of _C. fortidens_.--P3-M1, length, + 25.8 (millimeters); P4-M1, 18.9; P3, length, 6.2; P3, + breadth, 2.8; P4, length of outer border, 9.3; P4, breadth, + 7.05; M1, length, 9.7; M1, breadth, 9.3; m2, length, 10.3; + m2, breadth, 6.6; depth of mandible at posterior end of m2, + 17; thickness of mandible, 7.1. + + +_Transmitted February 21, 1962._ + + +29-2890 + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A New Doglike Carnivore, Genus +Cynarctus, From the Clarendonian, Pliocene, of Texas, by E. Raymond Hall and Walter W. Dalquest + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30260 *** |
