Huracan: new enormous bear.

[Deleted]

Hi,

When you're done talking about stupid things like the bigfoot, maybe you can search and post interesting scientific news like this for example:

New Fossil Giant Panda Relatives (Ailuropodinae, Ursidae): A Basal Lineage of Gigantic Mio-Pliocene Cursorial Carnivores. QIGAO JIANGZUO, JOHN J. FLYNN, SHIQI WANG,
SUKUAN HOU, AND TAO DENG. March 14, 2023.

Some measurements are really impressive, for example:

Complete crania permitting measurement of total length and condylobasal length are rare, but those have an average of 490 mm for cranial total length (n = 2) and 440 mm for condylobasal length (n = 4; table 5). However, complete mandibles are abundant, with a mean length of 318.5 mm (n = 8; table 11). Based on the ratios of 1.47 and 1.37 for cranial total length mandibular length and condylobasal length/mandibular length, respectively, from an individual associated cranium and mandible of AMNH F:AM 76005, the range of cranial total lengths and condylobasal lengths in this species are estimated at 411–553 mm and 383–515 mm, respectively. The large size range and bimodal distribution of mandibular size suggest considerable sexual dimorphism in this species.

Best regards.

[brobear]

May 1, 2023 3:48:49 GMT -5 @hibernours said:

Hi,

When you're done talking about stupid things like the yeti, maybe you can search and post interesting scientific news like this for example:

New Fossil Giant Panda Relatives (Ailuropodinae, Ursidae): A Basal Lineage of Gigantic Mio-Pliocene Cursorial Carnivores. QIGAO JIANGZUO, JOHN J. FLYNN, SHIQI WANG,
SUKUAN HOU, AND TAO DENG. March 14, 2023.

Some measurements are really impressive, for example:

Complete crania permitting measurement of total length and condylobasal length are rare, but those have an average of 490 mm for cranial total length (n = 2) and 440 mm for condylobasal length (n = 4; table 5). However, complete mandibles are abundant, with a mean length of 318.5 mm (n = 8; table 11). Based on the ratios of 1.47 and 1.37 for cranial total length mandibular length and condylobasal length/mandibular length, respectively, from an individual associated cranium and mandible of AMNH F:AM 76005, the range of cranial total lengths and condylobasal lengths in this species are estimated at 411–553 mm and 383–515 mm, respectively. The large size range and bimodal distribution of mandibular size suggest considerable sexual dimorphism in this species.

Best regards.

Two questions; (1) where is your source and (2) why the hostility? 

[Deleted]

Hi Brobear:

For the source: www.researchgate.net/publication/369256994_New_Fossil_Giant_Panda_Relatives_Ailuropodinae_Ursidae_A_Basal_Lineage_of_Gigantic_Mio-Pliocene_Cursorial_Carnivores
You can download the paper, it is very interesting.

Hostility is not the right term. As you know i hate cat fanboys (particulary tiger fanboys) who are the most stupid debaters i have ever seen on animal forums. But look at your forum: sometimes it provides very good information but unfortunately there are a lot of useless discussions about ridiculous things like bigfoot or endless discussions about tiger vs bear... All honest people know that a full grown male brown bear has the advantage over any felids, tiger or lion, extant or extinct.

So please, try to share more scientific informations and maybe less teenager discussions like "animal vs animal" again and again and again and again. Bears are the largest and most powerful terrestrial mammalian carnivors only rivalised (surpassed???) by some gigantic creodonts.

[brobear]

Meat-eating panda relatives — one with monstrously large teeth — roamed Earth, study says

www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/meat-eating-panda-relatives-one-190934801.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHQl16KP5I4Ajx9Wbz-roFCOmZZsmY6isIQUgNDyhYgbHQ-sFS4clEyNsCi46Ru2C62GENWKJ6SIbSqKgZBh-FtQmvU-hozNjT_pnHxsG2W9oA3f901QCP8lbdDKYxT_Y2VldVqEvp6vX3R2VNUhqLBtSVdY3hE1O-IsXjR1Osqi

Today, giant pandas exist in a category all on their own. But a new study indicates that pandas are a part of what was once a flourishing collection of even larger bears.

The research was conducted by paleontologists at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History and was published March 14 in the journal American Museum Novitates.

Studying fossils from North America and east Asia, researchers discovered a new type of bear-like creature with at least four distinct species, according to the study. Known as Huracan, the giant panda relatives roamed Earth as early as 8 million years ago until they died out in the middle of the Pliocene, about 3 million years ago.

Of the four species, one stood out to experts for its size and build, the study said.

Huracan coffeyi, which found their home in North America, had a monstrous skull and giant teeth, researchers said. They described the creature’s teeth as “probably the largest among all known bears, living and extinct.”

The animal’s arm bones indicate that it was likely incredibly fast, and are more similar to the structure of lions and jaguars than to other bears, such as pandas, the study said. Experts think the creature was more adapted to running than “any living bear, the extinct giant short-faced bear, and probably extant lions.”

Unlike today’s pandas, Huracan were “hypercarniverous,” so most of their diet consisted of meat, the paleontologists said. They likely preyed upon now-extinct rhino and camel species.

The discovery indicates that giant pandas, which are highly specialized herbivores, developed from a lineage that was once made up of carnivores, according to the study.

Experts also learned more about two other kinds of creatures — Indarctos and Agriotherium — which share traits with the Huracan and giant pandas.

[brobear]

Scientists discover prehistoric carnivorous giant panda

www.china.org.cn/china/2023-03/29/content_85197779.htm

A team of Chinese paleontologists along with their U.S. counterparts have discovered an extinct predatory family of giant pandas that were characterized by long limbs and excellent running abilities.

The herbivorous giant panda is the single existing bear in its own genus and species, but it belonged to a flourishing family millions of years ago.

The researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the American Museum of Natural History have identified a new genus of an extinct relative of the giant panda. This new genus, named Huracan, has been described based on a significant amount of fossil materials found in both North America and eastern Asia.

Huracan is believed to have emerged during the late Miocene period, spanning from approximately 11.6 to 5.3 million years ago, and the earliest fossils of this species were discovered in the Linxia Basin in China's Gansu Province, according to a study published recently in the journal American Museum Novitates.

The prehistoric carnivorous species spread to both Europe and North America. While it died out in Europe relatively quickly, it evolved into two new species in North America, according to the study.

The limb bones of Huracan indicate that it had good running abilities, but its forelimbs were not as strong or flexible as those of other bear species. This demonstrates that it likely preyed on animals such as sheep or camels, as opposed to more muscular animals like rhinoceros or elephants.

The new genus possesses characters shared with both Agriotherium and Indarctos, which are two ancient giant bears whose evolutionary relationship was previously unclear.

The new study showed that the common ancestor of Huracan and Agriotherium evolved from early Indarctos or another Indarctos-like bear, likely in eastern Asia.

However, the dentitions of Huracan and Agriotherium are more specialized for carnivory than most Indarctos species, indicating a radiation of diverse ecological carnivores earlier in the history of the later-diverging, highly specialized herbivores in the giant panda lineage, according to the study.

The Huracan and its nearest cousin Agriotherium species replaced their ancestors at a time featuring significant global cooling and grassland expansion since they were more cursorial and therefore more well-adapted to open habitats, the researchers said.

[brobear]

Mandibles of Huracan coffeyi 
 
www.researchgate.net/figure/Mandibles-of-Huracan-coffeyi-lateral-and-dorsal-views-A1-2-AMNH-FAM-76010-B1-2_fig3_369256994

[brobear]

Skulls (crushed) of Huracan coffeyi.

www.researchgate.net/figure/Skulls-crushed-of-Huracan-coffeyi-A1-3-AMNH-FAM-76006-B-AMNH-FAM-76015-C-AMNH_fig2_369256994

[brobear]

Quote from reply #3, "Studying fossils from North America and east Asia, researchers discovered a new type of bear-like creature with at least four distinct species, according to the study. Known as Huracan, the giant panda relatives roamed Earth as early as 8 million years ago until they died out in the middle of the Pliocene, about 3 million years ago."

1- Huracan punjabiensis ?
2- Huracan schneideri
3- Huracan qiui
4- Huracan coffeyi.

[brobear]

Phylogenetic trees of Agriotheriini: A. strict consensus tree, parsimony with equal weighting, tree length 473, CI = 0.548, RI = 0.834; B. single most parsimonious tree, parsimony with implied weighting (k = 12), tree length 16.16, CI = 0.549, RI = 0.835. Number in the node represents bootstrap value (1000 times). 

[brobear]

Huracan schneideri

prehistoric-fauna.com/Huracan

New fossil giant panda relatives (Ailuropodinae, Ursidae) : a basal lineage of gigantic Mio-Pliocene cursorial carnivores (American Museum novitates, no. 3996)
Jiangzhou, Qigao; Wang, Shiqi (Paleontologist); Hou, Sukuan; Deng, Tao (Paleontologist)

Among the fossil members of the giant panda subfamily of ursid carnivorans, Ailuropodinae, one group of species is of giant size, those of Indarctos. Indarctos species have some dental resemblances to and may be closely related to Agriotherium, although there are other clear differences between these taxa, and no known species has definitive shared derived traits that could link these two genera. Here we describe a rich suite of fossil material from both North America and eastern Asia, all belonging to a new genus, Huracan, which possesses characters shared with both Agriotherium and Indarctos but also has diagnostic autapomorphies. The new taxon was distributed widely in the Holarctic during the latest Miocene, including at least four species: the type species Huracan schneideri (previously Agriotherium schneideri) from the latest Hemphillian (Hh4) and possibly early Blancan North American Land Mammal “Ages” (NALMAs), North America; H. coffeyi from the early Late Hemphillian (Hh3) NALMA, North America; H. qiui, sp. nov., from the Baodean Asian Land Mammal “Age” (ALMA), northern China; and H. roblesi from the MN13 zone (latest Miocene–earliest Pliocene) of Spain. Huracan is the nearest sister taxon to Agriotherium, the latter herein considered to be an ailuropodine (in the tribe Agriotheriini) rather than a hemicyonid, and the common ancestor of both genera evolved from Indarctos (with resultant paraphyly of that taxon) or another Indarctos-like ailuropodine bear, likely in eastern Asia. The dentitions of Huracan and Agriotherium both are more specialised for carnivory than most Indarctos species, indicating a radiation of diverse ecological carnivores earlier in the history of the later-diverging, highly specialized herbivores in the giant panda lineage. Their postcranial morphology suggests that species in both genera (Huracan and Agriotherium) were more cursorial than species assigned to Indarctos, and thus well adapted to more open habitats. These derived traits may explain the worldwide replacement of Indarctos species by Huracan and Agriotherium species during the latest Miocene, in response to significant global cooling and expansion of C4 grasslands that occurred at that time. 

[brobear]

Huracan (genus)

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huracan_(genus)

Huracan is an extinct genus of agriotheriin ailuropodine from the Neogene period with fossils found from North America and eastern Asia. Unlike its modern relative giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) which is a bamboo specialist, Huracan was a hypercarnivorous genus of bear that had adaptations of cursoriality.

Specimens of Huracan were originally classified as species of the related genus Agriotherium. Hunt (1998) had noted differences in the structure of the carnassials between Agriotherium schneideri and Old World species of said genus, but lots of similarities between A. schneideri and genus Indarctos. This was further supported in the 2019 publication of A. hendeyi which led the authors of the study to do a comprehensive analysis of agriotheriin specimens to assess their taxonomy.

When Jiangzuo et al. (2023) computed the phylogenetic analysis, they found Indarctos to be paraphyletic to the clade containing the genera Huracan and Agriotherium.

[brobear]

Species:

1- Huracan schneideri. The genotype species, H. schneideri was formally described by Sellards in 1916 from fossil material collected from the Upper Bony Valley, Hardee and Polk counties, Florida, a typical Latest Hemphillian. The main holotype was a mandible (USNM 8838) but additional material of this species has since been collected from this locality and other locations from the southern United States and parts of Mexico. Differs from other species in the genus of shorter and smaller premolars and molars.

2- Huracan coffeyi was described by Dalquest, 1986 on a holotype (MWSU 12147) found from Coffee Ranch in Texas. The holotype specimen is a partial mandible preserving some molar teeth. All specimens of the species were originally classified as those of Agriotherium schneideri, though H. coffeyi differs from H. schneideri in having much larger and longer premolars and molars.

3- Huracan qiui is a new species described by Jiangzuo et al.,2023. The holotype (HMV 2005) is a nearly complete skull from the Wangjiashan fossil locality. This species differs from H. coffeyi and H. schneideri in not being as hypercarnivorous with more developed anterior premolars and the first and second molars longer. The skull is also much narrower in this species.

*Note: Other possible species

Two species of agriotheriin bears, A. roblesi and I. punjabensis might belong to Huracan as well based on overall similarities of their molars. In the case of I. punjabensis is sister to the Agriotherium–Huracan clade.

[theundertaker45]

@hibernours

My good god, thank you for sharing the information on this ancient panda relative. Moderately hypercarnivorous and a skull much larger than a Kodiak bear, this is incredible. I hope more stuff gets uncovered, possibly also postcranial material. What a giant.

[brobear]

Jun 21, 2023 0:20:45 GMT -5 theundertaker45 said:

@hibernours

My good god, thank you for sharing the information on this ancient panda relative. Moderately hypercarnivorous and a skull much larger than a Kodiak bear, this is incredible. I hope more stuff gets uncovered, possibly also postcranial material. What a giant.

Might we be seeing the Huracan in a size comparison picture anytime soon? 

[Montezuma]

More details:

"New Fossil Giant Panda Relatives (Ailuropodinae, Ursidae): A Basal Lineage of Gigantic Mio-Pliocene Cursorial Carnivores


Abstract and Figures

Among the fossil members of the giant panda subfamily of ursid carnivorans, Ailuropodinae, one group of species is of giant size, those of Indarctos. Indarctos species have some dental resemblances to and may be closely related to Agriotherium, although there are other clear differences between these taxa, and no known species has definitive shared derived traits that could link these two genera. Here we describe a rich suite of fossil material from both North America and eastern Asia, all belonging to a new genus, Huracan, which possesses characters shared with both Agriotherium and Indarctos but also has diagnostic autapomorphies. The new taxon was distributed widely in the Holarctic during the latest Miocene, including at least four species: the type species Huracan schneideri (previously Agriotherium schneideri) from the latest Hemphillian (Hh4) and possibly early Blancan North American Land Mammal “Ages” (NALMAs), North America; H. coffeyi from the early Late Hemphillian (Hh3) NALMA, North America; H. qiui, sp. nov., from the Baodean Asian Land Mammal “Age” (ALMA), northern China; and H. roblesi from the MN13 zone (latest Miocene–earliest Pliocene) of Spain. Huracan is the nearest sister taxon to Agriotherium, the latter herein considered to be an ailuropodine (in the tribe Agriotheriini) rather than a hemicyonid, and the common ancestor of both genera evolved from Indarctos (with resultant paraphyly of that taxon) or another Indarctos-like ailuropodine bear, likely in eastern Asia. The dentitions of Huracan and Agriotherium both are more specialised for carnivory than most Indarctos species, indicating a radiation of diverse ecological carnivores earlier in the history of the later-diverging, highly specialized herbivores in the giant panda lineage. Their postcranial morphology suggests that species in both genera (Huracan and Agriotherium) were more cursorial than species assigned to Indarctos, and thus well adapted to more open habitats. These derived traits may explain the worldwide replacement of Indarctos species by Huracan and Agriotherium species during the latest Miocene, in response to significant global cooling and expansion of C4 grasslands that occurred at that time."







www.researchgate.net/publication/369256994_New_Fossil_Giant_Panda_Relatives_Ailuropodinae_Ursidae_A_Basal_Lineage_of_Gigantic_Mio-Pliocene_Cursorial_Carnivores

[Montezuma]

More details:

"Among the fossil members of the giant panda subfamily of ursid carnivorans, Ailuropodinae, one group of species is of giant size, those of Indarctos. Indarctos species have some dental resemblances to and may be closely related to Agriotherium, although there are other clear differences between these taxa, and no known species has definitive shared derived traits that could link these two genera. Here we describe a rich suite of fossil material from both North America and eastern Asia, all belonging to a new genus, Huracan, which possesses characters shared with both Agriotherium and Indarctos but also has diagnostic autapomorphies. The new taxon was distributed widely in the Holarctic during the latest Miocene, including at least four species: the type species Huracan schneideri (previously Agriotherium schneideri) from the latest Hemphillian (Hh4) and possibly early Blancan North American Land Mammal “Ages” (NALMAs), North America; H. coffeyi from the early Late Hemphillian (Hh3) NALMA, North America; H. qiui, sp. nov., from the Baodean Asian Land Mammal “Age” (ALMA), northern China; and H. roblesi from the MN13 zone (latest Miocene–earliest Pliocene) of Spain. Huracan is the nearest sister taxon to Agriotherium, the latter herein considered to be an ailuropodine (in the tribe Agriotheriini) rather than a hemicyonid, and the common ancestor of both genera evolved from Indarctos (with resultant paraphyly of that taxon) or another Indarctos-like ailuropodine bear, likely in eastern Asia. The dentitions of Huracan and Agriotherium both are more specialised for carnivory than most Indarctos species, indicating a radiation of diverse ecological carnivores earlier in the history of the later-diverging, highly specialized herbivores in the giant panda lineage. Their postcranial morphology suggests that species in both genera (Huracan and Agriotherium) were more cursorial than species assigned to Indarctos, and thus well adapted to more open habitats. These derived traits may explain the worldwide replacement of Indarctos species by Huracan and Agriotherium species during the latest Miocene, in response to significant global cooling and expansion of C4 grasslands that occurred at that time."






bioone.org/journals/american-museum-novitates/volume-2023/issue-3996/3996.1/New-Fossil-Giant-Panda-Relatives-Ailuropodinae-Ursidae--A-Basal/10.1206/3996.1.short

[brobear]

Credits to GrizzlyClaws - wildfact.com/forum/topic-giant-bears-of-the-mio-pliocene

Quite surprising, but not completely out of expectation that the Giant Panda subfamily Ailuropodinae was the dominant bear group during the Miocene and Pliocene period.

It does seem that the Ursinae and Tremactinae groups started to fill vacuum in the ecosystem after the decline of the Ailuropodinae group.

BTW, we can be now quite assertive that all these 3 groups of bear can reach a maximum skull size of 600 mm. 
_____________________
 
600 millimeters is equal to 23.62 inches