Moralesictis intrepidus gen. et sp. nov., the long journey of a Miocene honey badger´s relative to the New World

ABSTRACT

We describe a new genus and species of mellivorine mustelid from the late early Hemphillian (Hh2, c. 7.5 Ma) Box T Local Fauna of Texas, USA. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates that it is a basal eomellivorin. Moralesictis intrepidus is intermediate in size between Eomellivora and Mellivora capensis, the smaller extant honey badger. It is characterised by its strong muzzle, relatively convex skull profile, robust and unicuspid P1-P3, and a distinctive P4. The P4 has a mesially located robust and enlarged protocone, and is shorter in relative to the M1 width. The M1 occlusal morphology is primitive for a mellivorine. These traits distinguish it from other large-sized mustelids such as Eomellivora wimani from the Hemphillian (Hh3-4) of California, Plesiogulo spp. from several Hh3-4 North American localities, and Hoplictis cf. grangerensis from the late Clarendonian (Cl2), Nebraska. It also differs from the Barstovian Legionarictis fortidens and undescribed North American Clarendonian specimens of Sthenictis and Mionictis. Moralesictis intrepidus, previously identified as Eomellivora, unquestionably represents the oldest immigrant mellivorine to North America (Hh 2) and implies the entrance of Eomellivora to North America as a separate immigration event in Hh3-4.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:96AEE149-5B98-4779-AF65-152E8680527D

KEYWORDS:

• Carnivora
• Mustelidae
• Mellivorinae
• North America
• Late Miocene
• Eomellivorini

Acknowledgments

We thank J. Flynn, J. Meng and R. O´leary (AMNH) for access to the unpublished material of AMNH F:AM 22295 housed at AMNH and Q. Jiangzuo (IVPP, Peking University) for sharing with us pictures of this specimen. We also thank X. Wang (LACM) for sharing pictures of Eomellivora wimani from California. This study was supported by the Government of Aragon (Group ref. E33_20R), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds (Research Projects PGC2018-094122-B-100 and PID2020-116220GB-I00), the Research Group UCM 910607, and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (“Juan de la Cierva Formación”, ref. FJC2018-036669-I), and AMNH collection grant visiting 2014 to A.V. We are indebted to the editor G. Dyke and the reviewers X. Wang, H. Galiano, and P. Z. Barret for their useful comments and suggestions, which improved the original manuscript. Finally, we want to express our deep gratitude to our mentor (A.V.) and colleague (J.B.) Jorge Morales for his contribution to Carnivora during his wide career as vertebrate palaeontologist, his work has been always an inspiration for both of us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the American Museum of Natural History [AMNH collection grant visiting 2014 to Alberto Val]; Government of Aragon [Group ref. E33_20R]; Research Group UCM [UCM 910607]; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds [PGC2018-094122-B-100,PID2020-116220GB-I00]; Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (‘Juan de la Cierva Formación’) [FJC2018-036669-I].