Name:
Quercylurus
(Quercy cat).
Phonetic: Q-er-sy-lu-rus.
Named By: Ginsburg - 1979.
Synonyms: Possibly Dinailurictis.
Classification: Chordata, Mammalia, Carnivora,
Nimravidae, Nimravinae.
Species: Q. major (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Around 3 meters long and 1 meter high
at the shoulder, estimated between 230 - 400 kilograms in
weight.
Known locations: France.
Time period: Rupelian of the Oligocene.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
Most
nimravids
were relatively small cat-like mammals that ranged between
one and two metres in length, but Quercylurus was
a giant when
compared to these, something which leads to the popular comparison of
Quercylurus being the size of a brown bear. This
size would make
Quercylurus comparable to some of the larger
creodont predators such as
Sarkastodon
from Asia and denotes a specialisation towards hunting
powerful prey animals. Scavenging may have also been an option where
Quercylurus could have used its larger size to drive
away smaller
predators from their kills.
There
is some uncertainty about the future validity of Quercylurus,
particularly with regards to another nimravid called Dinailurictis.
There has been some suggestion that Dinailurictis
should actually be
treated as a synonym to Quercylurus, as well as
other suggestions
that both are actually species to the Nimravidae type genus Nimravus.
However the largest confirmed specimens of Nimravus
are only around
one hundred and twenty centimetres long, less than half the length of
Quercylurus. For this reason most researchers
continue to treat
Quercylurus as a distinct genus from Nimravus,
though the line
between it and Dinailurictis is a little more
blurry. Dinailurictis
lived at a later time than Quercylurus and while
this could indicate a
longer temporal span for Quercylurus, an
alternative interpretation
would be Quercylurus being the ancestor to Dinailurictis.
Quercylurus
acquired its name from the Quercy phosphorites of France, deposits
that contain many mammals including another nimravid called Eofelis.
Further reading
- Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids 65 million years of Mammalian
Evolution in Europe. - Columbia University Press, pp.81-83. - Jordi
Agusti & Mauricio Anton - 2002.