Fig 1.
Cranium F:AM 25430 of Megalictis ferox.
A lateral view; B rostral view; C dorsal view; D caudal view; E ventral view. Scale bar equals 5 cm.
Fig 2.
Mandible F:AM 25430 of Megalictis ferox.
A Right mandible lateral view; B occlusal view; C Left mandible lingual view of lower dentition. Scale bar equals 5 cm.
Fig 3.
Cranium and mandibles remains of F:AM 54079 and AMNH 54076 of Megalictis ferox.
A1–4 Cranium F:AM 54079, lateral view (A1), dorsal view (A2), ventral view (A3), and caudal view (A4); B1–3 right hemimandible F:AM 54079, lateral view (B1), medial view (B2), and occlusal view (B3); C1–3 left hemimandible F:AM 54079 lateral view (C1), medial view (C2), and oclussal view (C3); D1–3 right hemimandible of AMNH 54076, lateral view (D1), medial view (D2), and occlusal view (D3). Scale bar equals 5 cm.
Fig 4.
Crania of Megalictis ferox illustrating size differences.
A, and B Megalictis ferox holotype AMNH 12880, lateral view (A), ventral view (B); C, and D Megalictis ferox CM 1590 (genotype of Aelurocyon brevifacies), lateral view (C), ventral view (D); Megalictis ferox F:AM 25430 lateral view (E), ventral view (F); G, and H Megalictis ferox F:AM 54079 lateral view (G), ventral view (H). Scale bar equals 5 cm. C and D courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Table 1.
Upper tooth measurements (in mm) of Megalictis ferox.
Table 2.
Lower tooth measurements (in mm) of Megalictis ferox, Megalictis simplicidens, Megalictiss frazieri, and “Megalictis” petersoni.
Fig 5.
Phylogenetic relationships of Megalictis within Mustelidae.
Searches were performed using the Branch and Bound and a Bootstrap analysis through 1000 replicates to test the clade support in the analysis. The outgroup was C. lupus. Strict consensus tree of 6 trees (Length 194 steps, consistency index (CI) = 0.41, retention index (RI) = 0.65) for knowing the relationships between the different specimens of Megalictis ferox, Megalictis simplicidens, Megalictis frazieri, “Megalictis” petersoni, Oligobunis crassivultus, and a sample of extant musteloids and a canid. Numbers below nodes are Bremer indices, and numbers above nodes are Bootstrap support percentages (only shown when ≥ 50). Character/taxa matrix is detailed in the S1–S3 Appendices. Silhouette of Megalictis ferox based on Hunt and Skolnick [7], silhouette of Megalictis simplicidens, Megalictis frazieri, “Megalictis” petersoni and Oligobunis crassivultus based on Megalictis ferox but rescaled according the size of the dentition.
Fig 6.
All remains of Megalictis simplicidens, Megalictis frazieri and “Megalictis” petersoni published.
(A) Megalictis simplicidens, type specimen, CM1553 (Peterson, 1907) [5], lateral view of the mandible, (B) Megalictis simplicidens CM 1553 (Peterson, 1907) [5], medial view, (C) Megalictis simplicidens CM 2389 (Peterson, 1910) [29], lateral view of the mandible, (D) Megalictis simplicidens CM 2389 (Peterson, 1910) [29], medial view, (E) Megalictis frazieri (Frailey, 1978) [28], holotype UF 23928, lateral view of the mandible, (F) Megalictis frazieri (Frailey, 1978) [28], UF 23928, medial view, (G) “Megalictis” petersoni (Loomis, 1932) [27], holotype ACM 2011, lateral view of the mandible, (H) “Megalictis” petersoni (Loomis, 1932) [27] ACM 2011, medial view, (I) Megalictis simplicidens CM1553 (Peterson, 1907) [5], occlusal view, (J) Megalictis simplicidens CM 2389 (Peterson, 1910) [29], occlusal view, (K) Megalictis frazieri (Frailey, 1978) [28], UF 23928, occlusal view, (L) “Megalictis” petersoni (Loomis, 1932) [27] ACM 2011, occlusal view. Scale bar equals 5 cm. A-D, I and J courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. E-F and K courtesy of the Florida Museum of Natural History. G-H and L, Beneski Museum of Natural History at Amherst College, courtesy of The Trustees of Amherst College.
Fig 7.
Relationships between lengths (L) and widths (W) of upper dentition in Megalictis ferox.
Fig 8.
Relationships between lengths (L) and widths (W) of lower dentition in Megalictis ferox, Megalictis simplicidens, Megalictis frazieri, and “Megalictis” petersoni.
Table 3.
Craniomandibular measures of Megalictis ferox and other giant mustelids and extant North American carnivorans.
Fig 9.
Sequential reconstruction of the head of Megalictis ferox based on F:AM 25430.
A life appearance; B, reconstructed skull and mandible; C, Skull and mandible F:AM 25430. Artwork by Adam Hartstone-Rose.