Sansanosmilus
Name:
Sansanosmilus
(Sansan knife).
Phonetic: San-san-oh-smilus.
Named By: Miklós Kretzoi - 1929.
Synonyms: Possibly Sansanosmilus
vallesiensis.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Carnivora,
Feliformia, Barbourofelidae.
Species: S. jourdani, S. jourdani
vallesiensis, S. palmidens, *S. vallesiensis (possible
synonym to S. jourdani vallesiensis).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: About 1.5 meters long, 80 kilograms in
weight.
Known locations: Eurasia.
Time period: Serravallian of the Miocene.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.
Although
fossil remains form China have been attributed to Sansanosmilus
(for
the species S. palmidans), most of the
currently known fossils
come from Europe. This would suggest that the highest population
density for Sansanosmilus was in Europe, however
caution should be
used before coming to this conclusion since fossil deposits of certain
times are evenly distributed across the globe, nor is the level of
faunal inclusion in these deposits absolute. For this reason the
geographical and temporal distributions of extinct animals including
Sansanosmilus are usually a case of best educated
guess.
At
around one and a half metres long and with a weight estimate of about
eighty kilograms, Sansanosmilus was quite a bit
smaller than the type
genus of the Barbourofelidae,
Barbourofelis.
Additionally the
enlarged upper canine teeth of Sansanosmilus were a
little smaller as
well. Together these might suggest a prey specialisation for smaller
animals that did not require as much brute strength to take down,
although the robust skeleton of Sansanosmilus is
indicative of a
powerful musculature. Also smaller prey would not require such large
canines for a killing bite, perhaps across a more vulnerable area
such as the neck.
Other
barbourofelids include Prosansanosmilus
and Ginsburgsmilus,
Vampyrictis
and Syrtosmilus
amongst others.
Further reading
- New craniodental remains of the barbourofelid Albanosmilus jourdani
(Filhol, 1883) from the Miocene of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (NE Iberian
Peninsula) and the phylogeny of the Barbourofelini. - Journal of
Systematic Palaeontology. - Josep M. Robles, David M. Alba, Josep
Fortuny, Soledad De Esteban-Trivigno, Cheyenn Rotgers, Jordi Balaguer,
Raül Carmona, Jordi Galindo, Sergio Almécija, Juan V. Bertó &
Salvador Moyà-Solà - 2011.
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