41-570: M. cultridens M. falconeri M. whitei Megantereon is an extinct genus of prehistoric machairodontine saber-toothed cat that lived in North America , Eurasia , and Africa from the late Pliocene (or possibly the late Miocene ) to the Middle Pleistocene . It is a member of the tribe Smilodontini , and closely related to and possibly the ancestor of the famous American sabertooth Smilodon . In comparison to Smilodon it
82-474: A Homo erectus skull. The skull, designated D2280, indicates wounds to the occipital matching the dimensions of the sabre-teeth of Megantereon . From the position of the bite marks, it can be inferred that the hominid was attacked from the front and top of the skull, and that the bite was likely placed by a cat which saw the hominid as a threat. Other machairodont bites have been found on rival predators, including other machairodonts, in past fossil discoveries,
123-523: A better strategy than ambush predation when the predator is faster than the prey. Ambush predators use many intermediate strategies. For example, when a pursuit predator is faster than its prey over a short distance, but not in a long chase, then either stalking or ambush becomes necessary as part of the strategy. Ambush often relies on concealment, whether by staying out of sight or by means of camouflage. Ambush predators such as trapdoor spiders and Australian crab spiders on land and mantis shrimps in
164-655: A facilitator of early hominin expansion out of Africa. Machairodontinae Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia , Africa , North America , South America , and Europe , with the earliest species known from the Middle Miocene , with the last surviving species (belonging to the genera Smilodon and Homotherium ) becoming extinct around Late Pleistocene - Holocene transition (~13-10,000 years ago). The Machairodontinae contain many of
205-422: A killing throat bite, severing most of the major nerves and blood vessels. While the teeth would still risk damage, the prey animal would be killed quickly enough that any struggling would be feeble at best. Despite its size, Megantereon would have also likely been scansorial and therefore able to climb trees, like the earlier Promegantereon (thought to be its ancestor), but unlike the later Smilodon , which
246-513: A large modern jaguar, but somewhat heavier. It had stocky forelimbs, the lower half being lion-sized. It had large neck muscles designed to deliver a powerful shearing bite. The elongated upper canines were protected by flanges at the mandible. Mauricio Anton's reconstruction in The Big Cats and their Fossil Relatives depicts the full specimen found at Seneze in France at 72 centimetres (28 in) at
287-612: A light cover of sand or earth. When an ant, beetle or other prey slides into the trap, the antlion grabs the prey with its powerful jaws. Some but not all web-spinning spiders are sit-and-wait ambush predators. The sheetweb spiders ( Linyphiidae ) tend to stay with their webs for long periods and so resemble sit-and-wait predators, whereas the orb-weaving spiders (such as the Araneidae ) tend to move frequently from one patch to another (and thus resemble active foragers). Ambush predators must time their strike carefully. They need to detect
328-458: A mean peak speed 2.30 m/s (5.1 mph) and mean duration of 24.98 ms. Chameleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are highly adapted as ambush predators. They can change colour to match their surroundings and often climb through trees with a swaying motion, probably to mimic the movement of the leaves and branches they are surrounded by. All chameleons are primarily insectivores and feed by ballistically projecting their tongues , often twice
369-737: A skull in the Natural History Museum of London and a skull in a museum in Dublin – likely represented a new species (which had been previously noted by other authors). Fossil fragments have been found in Africa , Eurasia and North America . The oldest confirmed samples of Megantereon are known from the Pliocene of North America and are dated to about 4.5 million years. Samples from Africa are dated to about 3–3.5 million years (for example, in Kenya). In Europe,
410-413: Is believed to have spent its time on the ground. Megantereon also had relatively small carnassial teeth, indicating that once making a kill, it would have eaten its prey at a leisurely pace, either hidden deep in bushes or in a tree away from potential rivals. This indicates a similarity to modern leopards and their lifestyle in that it was probably solitary. Isotopic analysis of Megantereon whitei from
451-506: Is called aggressive mimicry , using the false promise of nourishment to lure prey. The alligator snapping turtle is a well-camouflaged ambush predator. Its tongue bears a conspicuous pink extension that resembles a worm and can be wriggled around; fish that try to eat the "worm" are themselves eaten by the turtle. Similarly, some reptiles such as Elaphe rat snakes employ caudal luring (tail luring) to entice small vertebrates into striking range. The zone-tailed hawk , which resembles
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#1733085081493492-399: Is often effectively camouflaged with local materials such as pebbles and sticks. The spider spins silk fishing lines, or trip wires, that radiate out of the burrow entrance. When the spider is using the trap to capture prey, its chelicerae (protruding mouthparts) hold the door shut on the end furthest from the hinge. Prey make the silk vibrate, and alert the spider to open the door and ambush
533-826: The Smilodontini with typical dirk-toothed forms, such as Megantereon and Smilodon , the Machairodontini or Homotherini with scimitar-toothed cats, such as Machairodus or Homotherium , and the Metailurini , containing genera such as Dinofelis and Metailurus . However, some have recently regrouped the Metailurini within the other felid subfamily, the Felinae, along with all modern cats. Based on mitochondrial DNA sequences extracted from fossils , machairodonts diverged from living cats around 20 million years ago, with
574-518: The animal kingdom . It is found in many vertebrates including fishes such as the frogfishes (anglerfishes) of the sea bottom, and the pikes of freshwater; reptiles including crocodiles, snapping turtles , the mulga dragon , and many snakes such as the black mamba ; mammals such as the cats; and birds such as the anhinga (darter). The strategy is found in several invertebrate phyla including arthropods such as mantises , purseweb spiders , and some crustaceans ; cephalopod molluscs such as
615-542: The carnassial teeth. Younger estimations, which are based on the postcranial skeleton, suggest body weights of about 100 kilograms (220 lb) for the smaller specimens. More recent sources agree with this and estimate Megantereon from the European lower Pleistocene at 200–300 kilograms (440–660 lb). Megantereon is thought to have been an ambush predator . It is now generally thought that Megantereon , like other saber-toothed cats, used its long saber teeth to deliver
656-541: The turkey vulture , flies among flocks of turkey vultures, then suddenly breaks from the formation and ambushes one of them as its prey. There is however some controversy about whether this is a true case of wolf in sheep's clothing mimicry. Flower mantises are aggressive mimics, resembling flowers convincingly enough to attract prey that come to collect pollen and nectar. The orchid mantis actually attracts its prey, pollinator insects, more effectively than flowers do. Crab spiders , similarly, are coloured like
697-1770: The Machairodontinae diverged early from the ancestors of modern cats and are not closely related to any living feline species. The phylogenetic relationships of Machairodontinae are shown in the following cladogram: † Dinofelis paleoonca † Dinofelis petteri † Dinofelis aronoki † Dinofelis barlowi † Dinofelis cristata † Dinofelis darti † Dinofelis diastemata † Dinofelis piveteaui † Metailurus boodon † Metailurus major † Metailurus mongoliensis † Metailurus ultimus † Adelphailurus kansensis † Stenailurus teilhardi † Yoshi garevskii † Yoshi minor † Tchadailurus adei † Megantereon cultridens † Megantereon ekidoit † Megantereon whitei † Megantereon hesperus † Megantereon inexpectatus † Megantereon microta † Megantereon nihowanensis † Megantereon vakhshensis † Smilodon fatalis † Smilodon gracilis † Smilodon populator † Rhizosmilodon fiteae † Paramachairodus maximiliani † Paramachairodus orientalis † Paramachairodus transasiaticus † Promegantereon ogygia † Machairodus alberdiae † Machairodus aphanistus † Machairodus horribilis † Machairodus laskerevi † Machairodus robinsoni † Miomachairodus pseudaeluroides † Hemimachairodus zwierzyckii † Amphimachairodus kurteni Ambush predator Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture their prey via stealth , luring or by (typically instinctive ) strategies utilizing an element of surprise. Unlike pursuit predators , who chase to capture prey using sheer speed or endurance , ambush predators avoid fatigue by staying in concealment, waiting patiently for
738-589: The Venta Micena locality in southeast Spain dating to the Early Pleistocene, around 1.6 million years ago, suggests that at this locality Megantereon hunted large ungulates, including the equine Equus altidens , the muskox-relative Soergelia , and the giant deer Praemegaceros with the prey likely being ambushed from areas on the boundary between forest and savannah. In Dmanisi, Georgia, evidence also exists that Megantereon interacted with hominids from
779-670: The distance to prey in dim light. Different ambush predators use a variety of means to capture their prey, from the long sticky tongues of chameleons to the expanding mouths of frogfishes . Ambush predation is widely distributed in the animal kingdom, spanning some members of numerous groups such as the starfish , cephalopods , crustaceans , spiders , insects such as mantises , and vertebrates such as many snakes and fishes . Ambush predators usually remain motionless (sometimes hidden) and wait for prey to come within ambush distance before pouncing. Ambush predators are often camouflaged , and may be solitary. Pursuit predation becomes
820-429: The distance to prey in dim light; diurnal and pursuit predators in contrast have round pupils. Ambush predators often have adaptations for seizing their prey rapidly and securely. The capturing movement has to be rapid to trap the prey, given that the attack is not modifiable once launched. Zebra mantis shrimp capture agile prey such as fish primarily at night while hidden in burrows, striking very hard and fast, with
861-451: The extinct predators commonly known as " saber-toothed cats ", including the famed genus Smilodon , and others like Megantereon as well as other cats with more modest increases in the size and length of their maxillary canines like Homotherium . The name means "dagger-tooth", from Greek μάχαιρα ( machaira ), sword. Sometimes, other carnivorous mammals with elongated teeth are also called saber-toothed cats, although they do not belong to
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#1733085081493902-410: The felids. Besides the machairodonts, other saber-toothed predators also arose in the nimravids , barbourofelids , machaeroidines , hyaenodonts and even in two groups of metatherians (the thylacosmilid sparassodonts and the deltatheroideans ). Μαχαιροῦς, from Ancient Greek: μάχαιρα, lit. 'makhaira', means a sword, and oδόντος (odóntos), meaning "tooth." The Machairodontinae originated in
943-442: The flowers they habitually rest on, but again, they can lure their prey even away from flowers. Some ambush predators build traps to help capture their prey. Lacewings are a flying insect in the order Neuroptera . In some species, their larval form, known as the antlion , is an ambush predator. Eggs are laid in the earth, often in caves or under a rocky ledge. The juvenile creates a small, crater shaped trap. The antlion hides under
984-421: The food out again. Frogfishes capture their prey by suddenly opening their jaws, with a mechanism which enlarges the volume of the mouth cavity up to 12-fold and pulls the prey ( crustaceans , molluscs and other whole fishes) into the mouth along with water; the jaws close without reducing the volume of the mouth cavity. The attack can be as fast as 6 milliseconds. Ambush predation is widely distributed across
1025-415: The full list of described species reproduced below: In 2022, it was proposed, alongside a description of more material, that more Asian species than just M. falconeri : M. nihowanensis , M. inexpectatus (syn. M. lantianensis ), and M. megantereon (syn. M. microta ) existed. The authors disregarded M. falconeri , however, because of the poor record for that species, and also noted that two specimens –
1066-498: The last surviving machairodont genera Homotherium and Smilodon estimated to have diverged from each other about 18 million years ago. The name 'saber-toothed tigers' is misleading. Machairodonts were not in the same subfamily as tigers, there is no evidence that they had tiger-like coat patterns, and this broad group of animals did not all live or hunt in the same manner as the modern tiger . DNA analysis published in 2005 confirmed and clarified cladistic analysis in showing that
1107-465: The length of their bodies, to capture prey. The tongue is projected in as little as 0.07 seconds, and is launched at an acceleration of over 41 g . The power with which the tongue is launched, over 3000 W·kg , is more than muscle can produce, indicating that energy is stored in an elastic tissue for sudden release. All fishes face a basic problem when trying to swallow prey: opening their mouth may pull food in, but closing it will push
1148-539: The middle Miocene of Europe. The early felid Pseudaelurus quadridentatus showed a trend towards elongated upper canines, and is believed to be at the base of the machairodontine evolution. The earliest known machairodont genus is the middle Miocene Miomachairodus from Africa and Turkey. Until the late Miocene, machairodontines co-existed at several places together with barbourofelids , archaic large carnivores that also bore long sabre-teeth. Traditionally, three different tribes of machairodontines were recognized,
1189-463: The oldest remains are known from Les Etouaries (France), a site which is now dated to 2.78 million years ago. A North American origin of Megantereon has therefore been suggested. However, recent fragmentary fossils found in Kenya and Chad, which date to about 5.7 and 7 million years, are probably from Megantereon . If these identifications are correct, they would represent the oldest Megantereon fossils in
1230-489: The prey to get near, before launching a sudden overwhelming attack that quickly incapacitates and captures the prey. The ambush is often opportunistic, and may be set by hiding in a burrow , by camouflage , by aggressive mimicry , or by the use of a trap (e.g. a web ). The predator then uses a combination of senses to detect and assess the prey, and to time the strike. Nocturnal ambush predators such as cats and snakes have vertical slit pupils helping them to judge
1271-487: The prey, assess it as worth attacking, and strike when it is in exactly the right place. They have evolved a variety of adaptations that facilitate this assessment. For example, pit vipers prey on small birds, choosing targets of the right size for their mouth gape: larger snakes choose larger prey. They prefer to strike prey that is both warm and moving; their pit organs between the eye and the nostril contain infrared (heat) receptors, enabling them to find and perhaps judge
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1312-410: The prey. Many ambush predators make use of camouflage so that their prey can come within striking range without detecting their presence. Among insects, coloration in ambush bugs closely matches the flower heads where they wait for prey. Among fishes, the warteye stargazer buries itself nearly completely in the sand and waits for prey. The devil scorpionfish typically lies partially buried on
1353-455: The region during the mid-Pleistocene transition possibly to climatic change, which made the region more arid and increased open grassland habitat at the expense of forest. The youngest remains in East Asia (which are the youngest records of the genus globally) date to at latest 400,000 years ago. Species of Megantereon were comparable in size to living jaguars . Megantereon was built like
1394-448: The same environment, it was discovered that Megantereon was more likely to prey on hominids than Dinofelis , which preferred to hunt grazing animals, based on carbon isotope ratios of its own teeth. Kills made by Megantereon were an important source of carrion in its ecosystem, with the felid's leftovers frequently being scavenged by both hominins and hyaenids. The abundance of carcasses generated by Megantereon has been proposed as
1435-682: The sea floor or on a coral head during the day, covering itself with sand and other debris to further camouflage itself. The tasselled wobbegong is a shark whose adaptations as an ambush predator include a strongly flattened and camouflaged body with a fringe that breaks up its outline. Among amphibians, the Pipa pipa 's brown coloration blends in with the murky waters of the Amazon Rainforest which allows for this species to lie in wait and ambush its prey. Many ambush predators actively attract their prey towards them before ambushing them. This strategy
1476-442: The sea rely on concealment, constructing and hiding in burrows. These provide effective concealment at the price of a restricted field of vision. Trapdoor spiders excavate a burrow and seal the entrance with a web trapdoor hinged on one side with silk. The best-known is the thick, bevelled "cork" type, which neatly fits the burrow's opening. The other is the "wafer" type; it is a basic sheet of silk and earth. The door's upper side
1517-521: The shoulder. The largest specimens, with an estimated body weight of 150–250 kilograms (330–550 lb) (average 120 kilograms (260 lb)), are known from India. Medium-sized species of Megantereon are known from other parts of Eurasia and the Pliocene of North America. The smallest species from Africa and the lower Pleistocene of Europe have been estimated at only 60–70 kilograms (130–150 lb). However, these estimations were obtained from comparisons of
1558-414: The size of their small, warm-blooded prey. The deep-sea tripodfish Bathypterois grallator uses tactile and mechanosensory cues to identify food in its low-light environment. The fish faces into the current, waiting for prey to drift by. Several species of Felidae (cats) and snakes have vertically elongated (slit) pupils, advantageous for nocturnal ambush predators as it helps them to estimate
1599-563: The world. The new findings therefore indicate an origin of Megantereon in the Late Miocene of Africa. Remains from the Siwalik Hills in the northern Indian subcontinent dating to the Early Pleistocene, which are among the largest in the genus, have been attributed to the species M. falconeri. The youngest remains of the genus in Europe date to around 1 million years ago, becoming extinct in
1640-464: The wounds indicating aggressive behavior towards potential competition. The hominid likely managed to escape the Megantereon , as no evidence points to predation or scavenging, although the resulting wounds were fatal. Further evidence of Megantereon being a hunter of hominids exists as carbon isotope ratios in teeth at Swartkrans . When compared with its fellow machairodont, Dinofelis , which shared
1681-457: Was somewhat smaller, around the size of a jaguar , though it is thought to have had a similar hunting strategy as an ambush predator . The true number of species of Megantereon is controversial, with the number of valid species differing between authors. Historically some authors argued that there was just one species. M. cultridens, but all recent authors agree that there were at least two species. The true number of species may be less than