Cephalogale sp. 5 Bonis 2019

Cephalogale sp.

(Fig. 3F)

NEW MATERIAL. — Piece of hemi-mandible, UP MGB 26, with p3, alveoli of c, p1, p2 and p4.

DESCRIPTION AND COMPARISON

The mandible (Fig. 3F 1, F 2) belongs to a medium sized carnivoran. The corpus height under p3 is 19.7 mm and the thickness 4.25 mm. There are two mental foramina, one under the roots of p2, another under the distal root of p3. The

size of the tooth (L = 8.45, w = 4.25) is within the range of Cyonarctos dessei Bonis, 2013, with length = 7.6 to 11.1 mm and width 3.15 to 5.71 (Bonis 2013: table 1) but the shape is different. The profile of the crown is slightly asymmetrical, the distal part being larger than the mesial one. The buccal face is convex but the lingual one is separated into two parts by a vertical median pillar, with both parts being slightly concave. A weak cingulid runs along the lingual base and, to in a lesser extent, the buccal one, to distally enclose a small and very shallow talonid basin.

The morphology of MGB 26 is far from that of the shearing premolars of the nimravids. It is the same, judging from the shape of P4, with the small amphicyonid Goupilictis Ginsburg, 1969. Thus, MGB 26 fits the Cephalogalini better. Adelpharctos Bonis, 1971 is larger. The p3 is missing in the holotype of the nominal species, but the shape and size of p4, large, high, and nearly symmetrical, may give an idea of the p3 morphology. However, the tooth is present in A. ginsburgi Bonis, 2011 and confirms the deduction. Phoberogale Ginsburg & Morales, 1995 displays a very low and elongate p3 with a more robust cingulid and a clear pacd. Cyonarctos Bonis, 2013 differs by the higher and more pointed p3 without cingulid and talonid basin. The closest genus seems to be Cephalogale with the closest species being C. brevirostris (Croizet in Blainville, 1845) (Blainville 1845: 122) and C. gergoviensis Viret, 1929. Thus we cannot provide a specific attribution, and then the fossil is identified as Cephalogale sp.