Procyonidae GRAY, 1825

Tesakov, Alexey S., Titov, Vadim V., Simakova, Alexandra N., Frolov, Pavel D., Syromyatnikova, Elena V., Kurshakov, Sergey V., Volkova, Natalia V., Trikhunkov, Yaroslav I., Sotnikova, Marina V., Kruskop, Sergey V., Zelenkov, Nikita V., Tesakova, Ekaterina M. & Palatov, Dmitry M., 2017, Late Miocene (Early Turolian) Vertebrate Faunas And Associated Biotic Record Of The Northern Caucasus: Geology, Taxonomy, Palaeoenvironment, Biochronology, Fossil Imprint 73 (3 - 4), pp. 383-444 : 416

Family? Procyonidae GRAY, 1825

Text-fig. 16d, e

M a t e r i a l. Left dP3 (GIN-1143-401): Volchaya

Balka; left dP4 (GIN-1144-301): Gaverdovsky.

D e s c r i p t i o n. The left dP3 (L × W = 6.9 × 4.6 mm) has a mesiodistally elongated and narrow profile and transversally positioned long protocone ( Text-fig. 16d ). The parastyle is a low conical cusp separated from the paracone by a small shallow basin and located directly mesially to the paracone. The heavily worn metastyle is elongated mesiodistally and transversely compressed, but is slightly shorter than the paracone. It is separated from the paracone by the carnassial notch. The protocone is significantly longer than the parastyle and is positioned lingually to the central part of the paracone. A distinct preparacrista and less pronounced lingual crest run down to the mesial and lingual base of the paracone respectively.

The transversely elongated left dP4 with L × W = 6.7 × 5.1 has a buccal length twice longer than the lingual length ( Text-fig. 16e ). Their ridge-like paracone and metacone are located at an angle to each other. The paracone is slightly taller and longer than the metacone but bears a central conule. The stylar shelf is developed between the parastyle and paracone mesially and is less expressed between the metacone and metastyle distally. An asymmetric ectoflexus is present, with its deepest point buccal to the distal half of the paracone. The meta- and paraconules are small and located closer to the potocone than to the paracone and metacone. The pre- and postprotocristae surround the nearly vertical lingual wall of the tooth and connect their central conules with the protocone apex.

C o m m e n t s. There is the significant difference between posterior milk premolars and their permanent analogues in carnivorans. As a rule, deciduous teeth are smaller in size, lower crowned, transversely more narrow, and do not duplicate the structure of the permanent teeth. These features hamper an unambiguous taxonomic assignment of the studied material. Judging by the long talon and a carnassial notch in dP3, and the occlusal surface of dP4, the studied deciduous teeth belong to Musteloidea . The size (L × W) of dP3 from Volchaya Balka is 6.9 × 4.6 mm. Using measurements from Baryshnikov and Averianov’s (1990) review, the size of the studied musteloid may be estimated as ranging between Martes martes , with the dP3 L × W upper limit being 6.6 × 4.2 mm, and Taxidea taxus , with the L × W lower limit being 6.8 × 5.0 mm. Deciduous molars of Miocene carnivorans have been insufficiently studied. Similar morphotypes of dP3 and dP4 are known from the Early Miocene European procyonid carnivore Stromeriella franconica . This form is also similar in size (dP3 L × W = 6.3 × 4.3) to the described form ( Dehm 1950: 107, figs. 209–210).

Figures

Text-fig. 16. Carnivorans from Gaverdovsky and Volchaya Balka, Late Miocene, North Caucasus. a–c – Promephitis maeotica, p4, dex, GIN-1144-302, a – labial, b – lingual, c – occlusal view; d–e –?Procyonidae gen., occlusal view; d – dP3, sin, GIN-1143-401, e – dP4, sin, GIN-1144-301.