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The brain anatomy of an early Miocene felid from Ginn Quarry (Nebraska, USA)

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Abstract

The oldest felid specimen in the New World is a cranium from Ginn Quarry, Nebraska. We present a detailed description of the external brain anatomy of this specimen as inferred from its cranial endocast. Compared with modern felids, the Ginn Quarry specimen has a dorsoventrally lower cerebrum, with only three major sulci and a laterally narrower frontal lobe. The cerebellum is exposed to a large extent, and the posterior cerebellar vermis is straight rather than twisted as in modern felids. The shape of its cerebrum and the cortical sulcal pattern are similar to those of Proailurus and Hyperailurictis. The encephalization of the Ginn Quarry felid is the same as that of Hyperailurictis and slightly smaller than in Proailurus. The degree of cortical folding is intermediate between the conditions seen in Proailurus and Hyperailurictis. The Ginn Quarry felid differs from Proailurus in having a better developed frontal lobe, a shorter cerebellum and slightly longer peduncles. Based on brain anatomy, we suggest that the Ginn Quarry felid should not be dismissed as a ‘proailurine-grade’ felid. Instead, it should be either considered a primitive form of Hyperailurictis or assigned to a new genus.

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Data for extant and fossil carnivores are from Lyras et al. (2017) and Table 2

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Acknowledgements

We thank Larry Heaney, William Simpson, the late William Stanley (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA), John Flynn, Jin Meng, Judy Galkin (American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA) and Christine Argot (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France) for providing us access to collections under their charge. We thank Thomas Rothwell (Paris Hill Cat Hospital, New York) for the fruitful discussions we had with him and Miranta Kouvari and Bartholomeus van der Geer for scanning the endocasts. We thank the reviewers, Julien Benoit and Thomas Macrini, for the critical changes and corrections they made on the manuscript. We also thank the Associate Editor, Irina Ruf, and the Editor-in-chief, Mike Reich, for their comments on the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784, Zografou, Greece

    George A. Lyras

  2. Department of Hematology, G. Papanikolaou General Hospital, 57010, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Aggeliki Giannakopoulou

  3. Department of Neurology, A.H.E.P.A. Hospital, 54636, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Aggeliki Giannakopoulou

  4. Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, 10405, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lars Werdelin

Authors
  1. George A. Lyras
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  2. Aggeliki Giannakopoulou
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  3. Lars Werdelin
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Correspondence to George A. Lyras.

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Handling Editor: Irina Ruf.

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Lyras, G.A., Giannakopoulou, A. & Werdelin, L. The brain anatomy of an early Miocene felid from Ginn Quarry (Nebraska, USA). PalZ 93, 345–355 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-018-00444-9

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