Crocuta KAUP 1828
Creators: name: Diedrich, Cajus G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Carnivora
Hyaenidae
Crocuta

description: GENUS CROCUTA KAUP, 1828
CROCUTA CROCUTA SPELAEA (GOLDFUSS, 1823)
(FIGS 2, 3)
1810 ‘Hölen Hyäne’. – Goldfuss: 280–281, table V, figs 2a, b.
1823 Hle. LVI, figs 1–3.
Holotype: Hyaena spelaea Goldfuss, 1823. Incomplete cranium (Goldfuss-Museum Bonn No. M2609).
Locus typicus: Zoolithen Cave, Geilenreuth (cave No. D 106) Franconian Alb, Wiensent Valley, Bavaria, southern Germany, Central Europe.
Stratigraphy: ‘Upper layers above the main cave bear bone gravels’ after Goldfuss (1810, 1823). Weichselian/Würmian, Upper Pleistocene (probably OIS 3). OIS 3–6 after Rosendahl & Kempe (2004). A radiocarbon date on cave bear teeth is given as 28.905 ± 255 BP (Poll, 1972).
Collection: Goldfuss-Museum of the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany.
Short description and discussion: The holotype was described as an incomplete cranium (Fig. 2A), which is missing the left maxilla and premaxilla (cf. Goldfuss, 1810). The right maxilla has the alveoli of the P 3–4. The P 2 is represented by its roots and indicates a mature to very old individual. The gender of the hyena is not yet clear as a result of lack of premaxillaries and total length measurements. The Late Pleistocene hyenas often show clear sexual dimorphism, clan-leading females being slightly larger with skull length of 30–32 cm (e.g. Diedrich, 2005, 2007b); the general sexual dimorphism in C. c. spelaea is present in the modern African spotted hyena C. c. crocuta (cf. Rohland, 2003). Recently, parts of the saggital crest have been damaged (compare Figs 2 and 3A); this damage was not present in 1810, when the skull was figured in a lithography. One additionally figured lower jaw in 1810 could not be found recently and it be shown to belong to the skull. Many mandibles were found in this cave, and it is thus not possible to prove that both parts are from one individual. In contrast, the skull must be from a very old animal. The P 2 is represented by rounded roots; both M 1 s are missing and their alveoli were already completely closed. The historically figured mandible was from an adult animal and has much less worn teeth.
FAMILY FELIDAE FISCHER, 1817
GENUS PANTHERA OKEN, 1816
PANTHERA LEO SPELAEA (GOLDFUSS, 1810)
(FIGS 4–8)
1810 Felis spelaea. – Goldfuss: 277–280, table V, fig. 1.
Holotype: Felis spelaea Goldfuss, 1823. Skull (Figs 4–8) of an adult male individual (Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität Berlin No. MB.Ma.50948).
Paratype: Lower jaw composed of two different individuals and of different sexes. At least one mandible clearly does not belong to the cranium because of its smaller size; the other has a strongly used canine, which indicates a very old individual, and would also not fit with the adult male skull (No. MB.Ma.50948).
Locus typicus: Zoolithen Cave, Geilenreuth (cave No. D 106), Franconian Alb, Wiensent valley, Bavaria, southern Germany, Central Europe.
Stratigraphy: ‘Upper layers above the main cave bear bone gravels’ after Goldfuss (1810, 1823). Weichselian/ Würmian, Upper Pleistocene (most probably OIS 3–6). OIS 3–6 after Rosendahl & Kempe (2004). Radiocarbon date on cave bear teeth 28.905 ± 255 BP (Poll, 1972).
Collection: Museum für Naturkunde of the Humboldt- Universität Berlin.
Short description and discussion: The nearly complete skull (Figs 5–8) and lower jaws cannot all be derived from one individual. The left mandible is about 3 cm shorter and more slender in its proportions. This half mandible would fit better with a lioness. The right mandible has a very heavily used canine, which again would not fit with the adult male skull. Several crania and even some lower jaws are present from this cave. The original skull has unique saggital crest damage. This is the result of a strong bite mark on the right parietal bone. This damage had undergone healing for a short time. The deep bite left a V-shaped notch in the centre of the crest. Only this skull of four possible candidates has these characteristics. Additionally, on the left side there is a modern hole damage in the skull, and the lower left jaw is missing most of the ramus, which must have occurred during the excavations. All these characteristics can be found only in one skull in the collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The skull is 40.2 cm in total length and fits the description of skulls of male Late Pleistocene lions, which had skulls about 10 cm longer than those of female lions (cf. Altuna, 1981; Argant, 1988; Gross, 1992). The dentition was shown to be more complete in Goldfuss (1810). The lower jaw is now missing the right P 3 and all incisors have been lost. Similar losses can be observed in the upper incisors. Only the right I 2 now remains. It appears that the nasal bones have lost some anterior parts. The skull probably sustained modern frontal damage during which it unfortunately lost many teeth and other parts. Additionally, some parts in the symphyseal region of the mandible have been filled with plaster, especially around the canines.
Palaeopathological observations: The skull of the male lion from Zoolithen Cave obviously had been severely bitten. The saggital crest was punctured up to 2 cm depth by the bite of another carnivore, and a large piece of bone must have been removed. Thus, the characteristic V-shaped notch in the middle of the saggital crest (Figs 8.2, 9A), which was clearly drawn by Goldfuss in 1810, can be clearly seen and is unique in all known lion skulls of the Zoolithen Cave. Additionally, a deep groove, 2 mm wide and about 5 cm long, starts from the V-shaped depression. This braincase damage must have been caused by the incisor of an attacking large carnivore. The bite was deep, and therefore it is possible that parts of the brain were damaged. The motor cortex (area motoria) is situated in this area (Fig. 9). The deep cut was in an early stage of the healing process with some callus production, but the animal cannot have survived for more than a couple of days. Even if the area motoria was not directly damaged, the callus healing process would have had an influence on the behaviour of the animal. The injured lion was possibly not able to move properly, having lost some of its motor capacity, but detailed palaeopathological studies, possibly with tomography, will need to be made to understand the exact injury and its impact.
description: Published as part of Diedrich, Cajus G., 2008, The holotypes of the upper Pleistocene Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823: Hyaenidae) and Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810: Felidae) of the Zoolithen Cave hyena den (South Germany) and their palaeo-ecological interpretation, pp. 822-831 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 154 (4) on pages 825-827, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00425.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5445628