Has A Dinaelurus Skeleton Ever Been Found?

[Dinictis]

Dinaelurus was a genus of nimravid that lived during the Eocene-Oligocene epochs.

Its skull was apparently very cheetah-like, with a short face and enlarged nasal passages. Some have hypothesized that due to this, like the cheetah, it was a cursorial predator.

I haven't found any evidence that anything below the neck has been found, yet people are starting to say these creatures had gracile skeletons. Image searches turn up a drawing of a skull and nothing else very useful. Various sites around the 'net are claiming that these catlike predators had long limbs like cheetahs and were relatively "gracile." Where are they getting this information?

The only published literature I can find talking about the body structure of this genus just tends to mention Dinaelurus along with Dinictis as more gracile nimravids. Of course we have lots of nice examples of complete Dinictis skeletons, but what about Dinaelurus? If there's a more complete Dinaelurus crassus skeleton than what we know about hiding in some museum or university somewhere, I would love to see it, but I can't find anything describing an actual specimen!

I've found only two legit published sources mentioning the skeletal structure of Dinaelurus, both of which tie it to Dinictis:

Mentioned along with Dinictis as being in the same clade in a book by Harold N Bryant published in 1996. This is the book cited by Wikipedia when it states that Dinaelurus had a gracile skeleton.

Also, mention is made in this 2008 paper.

I can't access this full article but it mentions Dinaelurus and Dinictis as having gracile forms. In Google Scholar this is what shows up: "Scimitar-toothed forms, in contrast, exhibit shorter canines that are normally coarsely serrated, and long, gracile limbs. ... Dinaelurus (42) and Nimravus (43) score positively on this axis and occupy pantherine/scimitar-tooth morphospace."

I know there are plenty of users on this forum with much more extensive knowledge regarding nimravids than I have. Maybe someone has at least seen a Dinaelurus skeleton in a museum collection.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Edited June 15, 2014 by Dinictis

[siteseer]

Dinictis,

I looked through my own references and and found one (Robert Carroll's 1988 book, "Vertebrate Paleontology") that noted Dinaelurus has been found in the Early Miocene of North America. From that I thought it might occur in South Dakota or Oregon and found a mention of the genus from the John Day Beds in Oregon (book "Oregon Fossils" by Orr and Orr).. You should see what you can find from there because I don't have much on Early Miocene land mammals.

You can try looking for this book as it has a chapter on nimravids:

http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/life-sciences/evolutionary-biology/evolution-tertiary-mammals-north-america-volume-1#contentsTabAnchor

Also, I would contact Graham J. Slater who provided an email address in the 2008 article you linked. If you ask politely for a pdf of that paper, you might get one. I have had good luck getting articles that way - articles otherwise tough to get. You ask him directly what he knows about the genus and other specific references to look for. Check the cited references in that paper if he sends it to you.

P,S.

I would check for you at the USGS office library in Menlo Park, CA which is not too far from me but it has already packed up its run of Paleobiology for shipment to a storage facility. I happened to be looking for another article in another issue in that journal last month and found an empty shelf where they used to be. The government in all its wisdom has decided that the three USGS libraries in the country do not need to hold so many books, journals, and maps so they are all downsizing, each becoming perhaps even more regionailzed in their collections. A librarian told me each library might end up with as little as 25% of what it had before the pack-up started. It appears someone decided the space given to a library should be a money-making arm of the government instead of being an educational resource. The publications might end up being auctioned off or recycled or simply dumpstered.

Dinaelurus was a genus of nimravid that lived during the Eocene-Oligocene epochs.

Its skull was apparently very cheetah-like, with a short face and enlarged nasal passages. Some have hypothesized that due to this, like the cheetah, it was a cursorial predator.

I haven't found any evidence that anything below the neck has been found, yet people are starting to say these creatures had gracile skeletons. Image searches turn up a drawing of a skull and nothing else very useful. Various sites around the 'net are claiming that these catlike predators had long limbs like cheetahs and were relatively "gracile." Where are they getting this information?

The only published literature I can find talking about the body structure of this genus just tends to mention Dinaelurus along with Dinictis as more gracile nimravids. Of course we have lots of nice examples of complete Dinictis skeletons, but what about Dinaelurus? If there's a more complete Dinaelurus crassus skeleton than what we know about hiding in some museum or university somewhere, I would love to see it, but I can't find anything describing an actual specimen!

I've found only two legit published sources mentioning the skeletal structure of Dinaelurus, both of which tie it to Dinictis:

Mentioned along with Dinictis as being in the same clade in a book by Harold N Bryant published in 1996. This is the book cited by Wikipedia when it states that Dinaelurus had a gracile skeleton.

Also, mention is made in this 2008 paper.

I can't access this full article but it mentions Dinaelurus and Dinictis as having gracile forms. In Google Scholar this is what shows up: "Scimitar-toothed forms, in contrast, exhibit shorter canines that are normally coarsely serrated, and long, gracile limbs. ... Dinaelurus (42) and Nimravus (43) score positively on this axis and occupy pantherine/scimitar-tooth morphospace."

I know there are plenty of users on this forum with much more extensive knowledge regarding nimravids than I have. Maybe someone has at least seen a Dinaelurus skeleton in a museum collection.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Dinictis]

Wow, siteseer, thank you so much for that thoughtful and thorough response!

That's a great idea to ask directly via email. A little intimidating but it's possible! And what a good idea to not only try that but to check the cited sources in any papers that are about the subject matter I am looking for.

That book is one I've had my eye on due to it appearing to have a wealth of information on some of my favorite fossils. Cheapest I can find is $85 on Amazon and I can't find it in the catalog of any library in my entire state. Maybe one to save up for.

I too have heard the bit about the John Day fossil beds connected with Dinaelurus. What a good idea to check up on literature about those fossil beds rather than Dinaelurus directly. I might stumble across something new.

What a pity about the Paleobiology section of the USGS. Such a resource, rendered inaccessible.

Thank you again for your response! I very much appreciate it. This gives me several great new places to hunt for information!

Edited June 23, 2014 by Dinictis

[siteseer]

You're welcome. I have emailed several researchers and maybe only one or two never wrote back. Most are happy to hear that amateurs are interested in their work and are trying to learn more. Researchers in France, England, and Denmark have even mailed me reprints refusing my offers to compensate them for their postal charges. It's even easier now because most recent articles on anything are in PDF format - just not widely/directly available. All a researcher has to do today is "attach" and "send."

Yeah, I would save up for that book if you're really into mammals and especially nimravids. I have been hoping it would go down in price. Sometimes, you can catch a good deal on a paleo book at a used bookstore. I would think whatever school/institution is in charge of the Gray site in your state would have a copy in its library. You could always try the interlibrary loan service.

Wow, siteseer, thank you so much for that thoughtful and thorough response!

That's a great idea to ask directly via email. A little intimidating but it's possible! And what a good idea to not only try that but to check the cited sources in any papers that are about the subject matter I am looking for.

That book is one I've had my eye on due to it appearing to have a wealth of information on some of my favorite fossils. Cheapest I can find is $85 on Amazon and I can't find it in the catalog of any library in my entire state. Maybe one to save up for.

I too have heard the bit about the John Day fossil beds connected with Dinaelurus. What a good idea to check up on literature about those fossil beds rather than Dinaelurus directly. I might stumble across something new.

What a pity about the Paleobiology section of the USGS. Such a resource, rendered inaccessible.

Thank you again for your response! I very much appreciate it. This gives me several great new places to hunt for information!

[piranha]

Hi Dinictis,

Today is a very lucky day as I have the book and paper mentioned above.

Please send me a PM with your email address and I'll be happy to send them!

[Dinictis]

Today is a VERY lucky day indeed! Thank you SO much! PM sent!

Hi Dinictis,

Today is a very lucky day as I have the book and paper mentioned above.

Please send me a PM with your email address and I'll be happy to send them!

[Dinictis]

Thanks for this, siteseer! It's wonderful how people are so willing to share knowledge. Researchers, I suppose, might value sharing their knowledge even more than most. Thank you for being willing to share yours.

That was a good call on the Gray fossil site! ETSU manages it and I checked their library catalogues online. They don't have "The Terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene Transition in North America" but they do have "Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America," an equally pricey book which looks quite promising for a Nimravidae enthusiast! They also have a book I hadn't yet run across called "The extinct mammalian fauna of Dakota and Nebraska." That looks like it could be nimravid-laden, though likely not for the Dinaelurus genus. Probably has a wealth of info on Hoplophoneus and Dinictis, both of which I'm always happy to soak up information on. Hmm, this is looking like a good excuse to make a mini road trip over to Johnson City!

You're welcome. I have emailed several researchers and maybe only one or two never wrote back. Most are happy to hear that amateurs are interested in their work and are trying to learn more. Researchers in France, England, and Denmark have even mailed me reprints refusing my offers to compensate them for their postal charges. It's even easier now because most recent articles on anything are in PDF format - just not widely/directly available. All a researcher has to do today is "attach" and "send."

Yeah, I would save up for that book if you're really into mammals and especially nimravids. I have been hoping it would go down in price. Sometimes, you can catch a good deal on a paleo book at a used bookstore. I would think whatever school/institution is in charge of the Gray site in your state would have a copy in its library. You could always try the interlibrary loan service.