Implications of the mastoid anatomy of larger extant felids for the evolution and predatory behaviour of sabretoothed cats (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae)

By M. Antón, M. Salesa, J. Pastor, Israel M. Sánchez, Susana Fraile, J. Morales. 2004

86 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Muscle attachments in the mastoid region of the skull of extant felids are studied through dissection of two adult tigers Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) Pocock, 1930, a lion Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) Pocock, 1930 and a puma Puma concolor (Linnaeus, 1771) Jardine, 1834, providing for the first time an adequate reference for the study of the evolution of that region in sabretoothed felids. Our study supports the inference by W. Akersten that the main muscles inserting in the mastoid process in sabretooths were those originating in the atlas, rather than those from the posterior neck, sternum and forelimb. Those inferences were based on the anatomy of the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca (David, 1869) Milne-Edwards, 1870, raising uncertainties about homology, which were founded, as revealed by our results. The mastoid muscle insertions in extant felids differ in important details from those described for Ailuropoda, but agree with those described for domestic cats, hyenas and dogs. The large, antero-ventrally projected mastoid process of pantherines allows a moderate implication of the m. obliquus capitis anterior in head-flexion. This contradicts the widespread notion that the function of this muscle in carnivores is to extend the atlanto-cranial joint and to flex it laterally, but supports previous inferences about the head-flexing function of atlanto-mastoid muscles in machairodontines. Sabretooth mastoid morphology implies larger and longer-fibred atlanto-mastoid muscles than in pantherines, and that most of their fibres ran inferior to the axis of rotation of the atlanto-occipital joint, emphasizing head-flexing action. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 140, 207–221.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/172e14398192252b85c4f4b5ae93871a6c936277

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Citations in the corpus

Constraint and adaptation in the evolution of carnivoran skull shape (2011, background): “…worth noting that this empty space could be filled by the primitive machairodontines Paramachairodus ogygia and Machairodus aphanistus from the lower Miocene of Spain, not analyzed here, a study of which showed a pattern of mosaic evolution in these traits (Antón et al. 2004; Salesa et al. 2005).”
Aspects of the functional morphology in the cranial and cervical skeleton of the sabre‐toothed cat Paramachairodus ogygia (Kaup, 1832) (Felidae, Machairodontinae) from the Late Miocene of Spain: implications for the origins of the machairodont killing bite (2005, background): “…with either a prolonged bite to the throat or muzzle of prey, resulting in its strangulation or suffocation (Schaller, 1972; Turner & Antón, 1997; Antón et al., 2004b), or with a strong bite to the nape, which causes death by breaking the skull or spinal cord (Leyhausen, 1979; Turner & Antón,…”
Déjà vu: the evolution of feeding morphologies in the Carnivora (2007, background): “For example, the mastoid processes are enlarged; these served as attachment sites for head-depressing musculature that could have assisted closure of the jaws (Akersten 1985; Anton et al. 2004b).”