Beijing, 2 Aug (Xinhua) -- This reporter learned from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that Chinese scientists recently discovered for the first time a fossil of the mandible with buccal teeth of the hidden saber-toothed tiger in the Linxia Basin of Gansu Province. This fills the gap in China for this species and even the original type of saber-toothed tiger, and makes up a key link for the study of the evolution and migration path of the late Mirhizoic saber-toothed tiger genus.
The saber-toothed tiger subfamily is a group of cats with well-developed dagger-like upper canine teeth, and is a prehistoric "top predator". The genus Saber-toothed tiger, which lived in the Miocene about 13 million to 5.33 million years ago, is a typical representative of the saber-toothed tiger subfamily, and its members are generally of the same size as modern lion tigers.
The picture shows the fossil mandible of the hidden saber-toothed tiger found in the Linxia Basin of Gansu Province. (Photo courtesy of Institute of Ancient Spine, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Sun Boyang, assistant researcher at the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that the fossils found in Gansu this time belong to the most primitive saber-toothed tiger genus in the late Miocene - the hidden saber-toothed tiger. Previously, the hidden saber-toothed tiger was thought to be distributed only in Europe.
Fossils have obvious primitive features, such as the relatively vertical lateral contour of the mandibular joint, the relatively large lower anterior molars, and the lower split teeth with more developed lower heel remnants. Sun Boyang explained that the split teeth used to cut meat are one of the most important organs of carnivores, and the general evolutionary trend of cats is that the ability to process meat is getting stronger and stronger, which is highlighted by the fact that the size of the split teeth accounts for an increasing proportion of all teeth and the structure is becoming more and more concise. Compared with some later progressive members, the new materials found in Gansu account for a relatively small proportion of all teeth, and there are more small structures like ornaments.
Pictured is the skull of a papier-toothed tiger. The Saber-toothed Tiger lived in Late Miocene China and was more progressive than the hidden Saber-toothed Tiger. (Photo courtesy of Institute of Ancient Spine, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
According to reports, about 10 million years ago, the hidden saber-toothed tiger migrated to North America through the connected Bering land bridge, thus opening the road to the dominance of the saber-toothed tiger in North America. However , no taxons at the same level of evolution as the occult saber-toothed tiger have been found in East Asia , interrupting this path in Asia. The record of the hidden saber-toothed tiger in the Linxia Basin perfectly fills this gap.
"It can be speculated that the saber-toothed tiger traveled east from Europe, first to Turkey, and then through Central Asia, most likely through Iran, into China, and then to North America." Sun Boyang said.
The study was led by the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Paleontology Research Center of Yuxi Normal University, with the participation of the Hezheng Paleontological Fossil Museum and Yunnan University, and the results have been published online in the international paleontological journal "Historical Biology".
Source: Xinhua News Agency