View source for Biology:Diegoaelurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammal}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|46.2|39.7}} middle [[Earth:Eocene|Eocene]]
|image = Holotype of Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae.png
|image_caption = Holotype of ''Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae'', (SDSNH 38343)
|image2 = 
|image2_caption = 
|taxon                  = Diegoaelurus
|authority              = Zack, Poust, & Wagner, 2022
|type_species           = '''''Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae'''''
|type_species_authority = Zack, Poust, & Wagner, 2022
|range_map              = A map showing the fossil finds of Diegoaelurus and other ocyaenid genera in North America.png
|range_map_caption      = A map showing the fossil finds of<br>''D. vanvalkenburghae'' as well as other machaeroidinid genera.
}}

'''''Diegoaelurus''''' ("San Diego's cat") is an extinct [[Biology:Genus|genus]] of placental mammals from extinct the subfamily [[Biology:Machaeroidinae|Machaeroidinae]] within extinct family [[Biology:Oxyaenidae|Oxyaenidae]]. This genus contains only one species '''''Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae''''', which was found in the Santiago Formation in {{wipe|California}}. This mammal lived during the [[Earth:Uintan|Uintan]] stage of the [[Earth:Eocene|Middle Eocene Epoch]] around 46.2 to 39.7 million years ago.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Zack |first1=Shawn P. |last2=Poust |first2=Ashley W. |last3=Wagner |first3=Hugh |date=2022-03-15 |title=''Diegoaelurus'', a new machaeroidine (Oxyaenidae) from the Santiago Formation (late Uintan) of southern California and the relationships of Machaeroidinae, the oldest group of sabertooth mammals |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=10 |pages=e13032 |doi=10.7717/peerj.13032|pmid=35310159 |pmc=8932314 |issn=2167-8359 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Sofia Quaglia |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/saber-toothed-mammal-hypercarnivore-fossil |date=March 15, 2022 |title=A new saber-toothed mammal was among the first hypercarnivores |work=Science News}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The name of genus ''Diegoaelurus'' comes from city San Diego and {{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|αἴλουρος}}'' (aílouros-)|[[Biology:Cat|cat]]}}. ''Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae'' was named after Dr. Blaire Van Valkenburgh in honor of her research on carnivorous mammals and [[Biology:Saber-toothed predator|saber-toothed predator]] [[Earth:Paleoecology|paleoecology]].<ref name=":0"/>

==Discovery==
The holotype fossils were discovered in Oceanside, San Diego county by paleontologist Brad Riney in 1988.<ref name=":0" /> The fossils were housed for over three decades in a [[Social:Museum|museum]] until 2022 when the fossils were described and recognised as a new genus and species.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> This creature is so far the only [[Earth:North America|North America]]n species of Machaeroidinae known outside of Utah and Wyoming.<ref name=":0" /> According to a paper on the creature, <nowiki>''The present study highlights how poorly documented the machaeroidine fossil record remains''</nowiki>.<ref name=":0" />

==Description==
[[File:Radiograph of the left dentary of Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae (SDSNH 38343).png|thumb|right|A radiograph showing a missing tooth in SDSNH 38343, the paper has noted that this could be pathological or it could have happened well antemortem.]]
[[File:Diegoaelurus 2022-04-12 at 21.23.51.jpg|thumb|An illustration of the skull and head of ''D. vanvalkenburghae'' with part of the skull based on ''Machaeroides eothen'']]
''Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae'' was small in stature, with a size comparable to a [[Biology:Fossa (animal)|fossa]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Paleontologists discover new San Diego saber-toothed catlike species |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-15/paleontologists-discover-new-san-diego-sabre-tooth-species |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> The [[Biology:Holotype|holotype]] fossils (SDSNH 38343) consists of a mandible and well preserved [[Biology:Dentition|dentition]].<ref name=":0" /> Its discovery has made paleontologists question whether this group's extinction was caused due to the [[Earth:Eocene–Oligocene extinction event|large faunal turnover at the end of the Eocene]].<ref name=":0" /> This creature as well as its subfamily were some of the first predatory saber toothed mammals to have evolved, 30 million years before the [[Biology:Machairodontinae|Machairodontinae]] (saber-toothed cats) evolved in the Miocene.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020 |title=Not all saber-toothed animals were predators, fossils reveal |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/saber-toothed-animals-not-all-predators-fossils-reveal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303062642/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/saber-toothed-animals-not-all-predators-fossils-reveal |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |website=National Geographic}}</ref> Due to the lack of remains, there is questioning to these animals [[Biology:Ecological niche|ecological niche]]s.<ref name=":0" /> However, there are good remains from [[Biology:Machaeroides|''Machaeroides eothen'']] which support a hypercarnivorus lifestyle for the group.<ref name=":0" /> ''D. vanvalkenburghae'' is actually the latest surviving member of its subfamily.<ref name=":0" />

==Classification==
The phylogenetic relationships of genus ''Diegoaelurus'' are shown in the following cladogram:<ref name=":0"/>

{{clade|label1=Machaeroidinae|1=
{{clade
 |1={{clade
    |1=''[[Biology:Machaeroides|Machaeroides]] simpsoni''
    |2=''Machaeroides eothen''
    }}
 |2={{clade
    |1='''''Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae'''''
    |2={{clade
       |1=''Apataelurus pishigouensis''
       |2=''Apataelurus kayi''
       }}
    }}
}}}}

==Extinction==
{{Main|Earth:Eocene–Oligocene extinction event}}

''Diegoaelurus'' along with all the members of its subfamily went extinct at the end of the Eocene.<ref name=":0" /> A supported theory is that these mammals went extinct during the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event;<ref name=":0" /> A large faunal turnover at the end of the [[History:Epoch|epoch]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ivany |first1=Linda C. |last2=Patterson |first2=William P. |last3=Lohmann |first3=Kyger C. |year=2000 |title=Cooler winters as a possible cause of mass extinctions at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62707/1/407887a0.pdf |journal=Nature |volume=407 |issue=6806 |pages=887–890 |bibcode=2000Natur.407..887I |doi=10.1038/35038044 |pmid=11057663 |hdl-access=free |hdl=2027.42/62707 |s2cid=4408282}}</ref> was probably caused by climate change, like the freezing of Antarctica disrupting [[Earth:Ocean current|ocean current]]s and global temperature.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zachos |first1=James C. |last2=Quinn |first2=Terrence M. |last3=Salamy |first3=Karen A. |date=1996-06-01 |title=High-resolution (104 years) deep-sea foraminiferal stable isotope records of the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition |url=https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1160&context=msc_facpub |journal=Paleoceanography |language=en |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=251–266 |bibcode=1996PalOc..11..251Z |doi=10.1029/96PA00571 |issn=1944-9186}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shackleton |first=N. J. |date=1986-10-01 |title=Boundaries and Events in the Paleogene Paleogene stable isotope events |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=91–102 |bibcode=1986PPP....57...91S |doi=10.1016/0031-0182(86)90008-8}}</ref> Many of the primitive mammals like the [[Biology:Palaeotheriidae|Palaeotheriidae]], [[Biology:Xiphodontidae|Xiphodontidae]], [[Biology:Dichobunidae|Dichobunidae]] and the [[Biology:Adapiformes|Adapidae]] were replaced by more advanced mammals like the [[Biology:Rhinocerotidae|Rhinocerotidae]] (true rhinos), [[Biology:Castoridae|Castoridae]] ([[Biology:Beaver|beaver]]s) Oreodonts, and other more advanced Artiodacytyls as well as the [[Biology:Erinaceidae|Erinaceids]] ([[Biology:Hedgehog|hedgehog]]s).<ref name="Hooker">{{Cite journal |author=Hooker, J.J. |last2=Collinson |first2=M.E. |last3=Sille |first3=N.P. |year=2004 |title=Eocene-Oligocene mammalian faunal turnover in the Hampshire Basin, UK: calibration to the global time scale and the major cooling event |journal=Journal of the Geological Society |volume=161 |issue=2 |pages=161–172 |bibcode=2004JGSoc.161..161H |doi=10.1144/0016-764903-091 |s2cid=140576090|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/13418/files/PAL_E228.pdf }}</ref> It seems once the Oxyaenids went extinct their ecological nice was filled in by the [[Biology:Nimravidae|Nimravids]], a family of saber-toothed mammals that belonged to the group [[Biology:Feliformia|Feliformia]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Paleodb|taxon|453634}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 16, 2012 |title=Meet the Cat Family |work=The Sunday Observer |publisher=Associated Newspapers of Ceylon |department=Junior Observer |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka |url=http://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2012/07/15/jun04.asp |access-date=January 2, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Werdelin |first1=L. |title=Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Johnson |first3=W. E. |last4=O'Brien |first4=S. J. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-923445-5 |editor1-last=Macdonald |editor1-first=D. W. |location=Oxford, UK |pages=59–82 |chapter=Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae) |editor2-last=Loveridge |editor2-first=A. J. |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q111251465}}

[[Category:Oxyaenidae]]

{{Sourceattribution|Diegoaelurus}}