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Late Pliocene Carnivora from Ahl al Oughlam (Casablanca)

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Denis Geraads at Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Denis Geraads
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The site of Ahl al Oughlam has yielded the first important carnivore fauna of North Africa, and one of the richest of Africa. It includes 23 taxa, 13 of which are new, belonging to most of the carnivore families, mainly the Felidae (6 species), Hyaenidae and Mustelidae (4 species each). Several genera were not previously known from North Africa, like Pliocrocuta, Chasmaporthetes, Nyctereutes, Prepoecilogale, while the walrus (Alachtherium) is mentioned for the first time in Africa. Many other genera were unknown in the area earlier than the Middle or late Pleistocene: Herpestes, Viverra, Genetta, Acinonyx, Ursus, Poecilictis, Mellivora, Lutra. The carnivore fauna of Ahl al Oughlam, quite diverse ecologically, is at least as distinct from those of Eurasia as from those of Eastern and Southern Africa; the many similarities with both, however, allow to confirm the age previously proposed for the locality, ca. 2.5 m.y.
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... Oughlam (Geraads, 1997), N. donnez ani from Layna (Rook et al., 1991), and N. sinensis from Zhoukoudian (Pei, 1934). ...
... From South Turkwell, a site roughly contemporaneous with the SH Member of the Hadar Formation, Werdelin and Lewis (2000) assigned two mandibular fragments of a canid much larger than the Dikika form to a new unnamed species of Canis. From Olduvai Bed I, Petter (1973) described a canid that is also larger and has much longer P4s than the Dikika form as Canis mesomelas and it is indeed closer to modern jackals, From Ahl al Oughlam in Morocco, dated to ca. 2.5 Ma, Geraads (1997 Geraads ( , 2008 described a canid the size of modern jackals and slightly larger than the Dikika form as Canis aff. aureus. ...
... The fossil forms of this genus are larger than the living one. Late Pliocene to Pleistocene forms, N. megamastoides from Europe (Viret, 1954; KurténKurt´Kurtén and Crusafont, 1977; Rook et al., 1991), N. abdeslami from Morocco (Geraads, 1997), and N. sinensis from China (Teilhard and Piveteau, 1930; Pei, 1934; Tedford and Qiu, 1991) share the same characters as N. procyonoides shares with the Dikika form, but also the same differences, except size. They have small anterior premolars (perhaps a negative allometry by comparison with N. procyonoides), but other dental and cranial features (including the sub-angular lobe, although it is usually smaller) indicate close relationships with the living form. ...
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... During the last 20 years, important new sites have been excavated in Morocco under a Franco-Moroccan program. Ahl al Oughlam, dated to about 2.5 Ma. [11,13] is the richest, with more than 100 species of vertebrates, of which more than 20 are carnivores. The fossiliferous level consists of loose sands or breccias, filling gaps and fissures between collapsed blocks of calcareous sandstone, providing shelter for carnivores which certainly used them as dens, hence their high abundance and diversity. ...
... A single lower carnassial from Ahl al Oughlam has been referred to Ichneumia [11], a genus which is very rare as a fossil, as it has been reported only from Olduvai [30] and more recently from Lemudong'o [18]. The large talonid with a high hypoconid, and high, almost equilateral trigonid with sub-equal cuspids better match the carnassial of this genus than that of any other modern form, but the cuspids are more isolated than in modern I. albicauda, and the talonid is broader, so that the inclusion in Ichneumia now appears questionable, and this tooth might in fact belong to a new genus. ...
... The Viverridae have a very sparse record in North-West Africa. From Ahl al Oughlam [11], a single m1 of large size has a rather open trigonid, with low cuspids, a large metaconid, and a broad talonid with a large central basin circled by a ridge consisting of several cuspids with the entoconid rather posterior. This tooth is almost identical to a specimen of "Viverra" leakeyi from Omo Shungura E3, and there is no doubt about its specific identity, although it is a bit larger. ...
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... Although the Quaternary diversity of peri-Mediterranean otters is distributed over a fairly long stratigraphic interval e the oldest taxon, 'L.' fatimazohrae, dating back to the beginning of the Pleistocene (Geraads, 1997) and the youngest, S. ichnusae, to the upper Late Pleistocene or even to the Holocene (Willemsen, 1992) -paleontological data provide unambiguous evidence that in some periods at least two species may have coexisted in the Mediterranean area. For example, the oldest record of 'L.' simplicidens in the early late Villafranchian of Tuscany () is approximately coeval with the occurrence of Le. umbra at Pantalla. ...
A new otter from the Early Pleistocene of Pantalla (Italy), with remarks on the evolutionary history of Mediterranean Quaternary Lutrinae (Carnivora, Mustelidae)
Article
  • Feb 2016
  • QUATERNARY SCI REV
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Text S5
Data
Full-text available
  • Mar 2009
Construction of the felid cladogram for phylogenetic contrasts. Justification for the construction of the felid cladogram and description of the phylogenetic control applied to the allometric calculations. (0.11 MB PDF)
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Description and systematic position of great canid from Tamaris I (Casablanca, Morocco)
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Full-text available
  • Jun 2012
The site Tamaris 1 in Casablanca yielded some remains of a great canid mentioned before in several Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in Morocco. Dental morphology is sim ilar to that of the Canis genus, but dim ensions are larger than those of Canisaureus. In this paper, we propose a description of the canid remains from the site of Tamaris 1 and a discussion of its systematic position.
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Masters of the lost World: A hypothetical look at the temporal and spatial distribution of lion-like felids
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Full-text available
  • Jan 2011
A hypothetical scenario for the temporal and spatial distribution of extinct and extant lion-like felids is presented on the basis of the latest data on their morphology, genetics, biogeography, and (palaeo-)ecology with the distinguishing of three to four possible "phylogenetic lineages" (African, Asian, European, and American? one). The presence of two to three relative allopatric forms of maneless lion-like felids in the northern Holarctic region during the Late Pleistocene (P. spelaea, P. vereshchagini, and P. atroxl) is assumed as a result of parallelism within the pantherine cats.
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On the occurrence of Ursus arctos during the early Holocene in the Middle Atlas (Morrocco) - dating and palaeoenvironmental implications
Article
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Near Boulmane city, in the limestone formation of El Minchare, the Ifri Oussaïd cave open over the Middle Atlas plateau at 2075 m high. From 2005 to 2007 excavations provided charcoal associated to bone remains mainly belonging to Ursus arctos, at last 156 identified bones from five bears. Paleontological studies describe bear of small size (Ouchaou, 2008). Datations of charcoal from stalagmitic floors above bear bone layer give ages between 5 220 ± 30 and 5 865 ± 30 yrs 14C BP, while the collagen of a radius bone was dated at 7 300 ± 40 yrs 14C BP. This date, taking in account the local climatic pattern, confirms the presence of Ursus arctos at the beginning of the Holocene period in North Africa but also point out to the importance of environmental changes in the Middle Atlas and their potential importance for the extinction of Ursus arctos.
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Pliocene bone-cracking Hyaeninae (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Zanda Basin, Tibet Autonomous Region, China
Article
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The upper pleistocene lagomorphs from El harhoura 1 cave (Temara, Morocco)
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Full-text available
  • Jun 2012
Lagomorphs collected in the Upper Pleistocene levels of El Harhoura 1 cave are assigned to two genera: Oryctolagus and Lepus. There are 220 well-preserved remains, most of which have been attributed to adults. Bones attributed to the genus Lepus are more numerous than those attributed to the genus Oryctolagus. Lagomorphs from El Harhoura I show affinities with those from some other Moroccan sites dating to the same period, such as Bouknadel and Doukkala 2. The role of carnivores in the accumulation of lagomorph remains in the El Harhoura I cave is significant, while the role of humans is difficult to ascertain given the absence of traces of butchery on the bones. Few works have been realised on Quaternary Lagomorpha in North Africa. This paleontological and taphonomic study of the Lagom orpha from El Harhoura 1 will undoubtedly contribute to knowledge about Pleistocene Lagom orpha of Morocco.
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Article
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