Protictitherium vs smaller, earlier Mesocyon
Long-legged Protictitherium
(Figs 1, 2) has (hopefully) found its final resting place in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2337 taxa) after spending the last few years alongside Daphoenus and other long-legged taxa. I tended to avoid Protictitherium because it was not similar enough to any other taxa until… (see below).
Figure 1. Protictitherium post-crania. Note the digitigrade manus. Note many score can be assessed here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium-anton-art588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium-anton-art588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-94528″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium-anton-art588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Protictitherium post-crania. Note the digitigrade manus. Note many score can be assessed here.” width=”584″ height=”321″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium-anton-art588.jpg?w=584&h=321 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium-anton-art588.jpg?w=150&h=82 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium-anton-art588.jpg?w=300&h=165 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium-anton-art588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Protictitherium post-crania. Note the digitigrade manus. Note many score can be assessed here.
Protictitherium crassum
(Kretzoi 1938; Koufos and Konidaris 2011; Miocene-Pliocene) was traditionally considered a civet-like hyena (genus: Crocuta, Fig 3). Civets are ancestral to hyenas in the LRT, but phylogenetically not that close. Protictitherium (Fig 1) does not obviously resemble Crocuta (Fig 3).
Even so, here in the LRT (Fg 5) Protictitherium nests with other canids, like the wolf, Canis and the termite-eating aardwolf, Proteles, where the reduction of large teeth are convergent with Protictitherium. These two are close to the hyaena, Crocuta in the LRT, despite the dental differences.
In the LRT, canids arise from Early Oligocene Mesocyon (Fig 2), from North America.
Figure 2. Middle Miocene Protictitherium skulls from Turkey, in situ and in lateral view alongside an ancestor, Early Oligocene Mesocyon from North America to scale.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium_skull588-1.jpg?w=206″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium_skull588-1.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-94529″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium_skull588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. Middle Miocene Protictitherium skulls from Turkey, in situ and in lateral view alongside an ancestor, Early Oligocene Mesocyon from North America to scale.” width=”584″ height=”851″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium_skull588-1.jpg?w=584&h=851 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium_skull588-1.jpg?w=103&h=150 103w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium_skull588-1.jpg?w=206&h=300 206w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium_skull588-1.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Middle Miocene Protictitherium skulls from Turkey, in situ and in lateral view alongside an ancestor, Early Oligocene Mesocyon from North America to scale.
According to Wikipedia – Protictitherium
“Protictitherium (‘first striking beast) is an extinct genus of hyena that lived across Europe and Asia during the Middle and Late Miocene, it is often considered to be the first hyena since it contains some of the oldest fossils of the family.”
“It has been suggested that Protictitherium was a partly arboreal predator, due to their semi-retractable claws, perhaps to avoid larger predators.”
“While they possessed somewhat large molars and premolars, their bite wasn’t remarkably strong.”
Figure 3. Crocuta (hyena) skeleton. Note similarities to Canis (figure 2)
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/crocuta588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/crocuta588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-25027″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/crocuta588.jpg” alt=”Figure 3. Crocuta (hyena) skeleton. Note similarities to Canis (figure 2)” width=”584″ height=”408″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/crocuta588.jpg?w=584&h=408 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/crocuta588.jpg?w=150&h=105 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/crocuta588.jpg?w=300&h=210 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/crocuta588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 3. Crocuta (hyena) skeleton. It had bone-crushing jaws and teeth, distinct from Protictitherium.
In the LRT
(Fig 5) Protictitherium (Figs 1,2) nests were it was assigned by others, at the base of the canid clade that includes Crocuta (the hyaena), Proteles (the aardwolf), Canis (the wolf) and Homotherium and its ‘kitten’.
Figure 4. Crocuta (hyaena) skull. DGS colors added. Compare to Protictitherium in figure 2.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crocuta_skull588.jpg?w=254″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crocuta_skull588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-94521″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crocuta_skull588.jpg” alt=”Figure 4. Crocuta (hyaena) skull. DGS colors added. Compare to Protictitherium in figure 2. ” width=”584″ height=”689″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crocuta_skull588.jpg?w=584&h=689 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crocuta_skull588.jpg?w=127&h=150 127w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crocuta_skull588.jpg?w=254&h=300 254w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crocuta_skull588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 4. Crocuta (hyaena) skull. DGS colors added. Compare to Protictitherium in figure 2.
Figure 5. Subset of the LRT focusing on the civet clade leading to Protictitherium.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium.clade430.jpg?w=179″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium.clade430.jpg?w=429″ class=”size-full wp-image-94534″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium.clade430.jpg” alt=”Figure 5. Subset of the LRT focusing on the civet clade leading to Protictitherium. ” width=”429″ height=”720″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium.clade430.jpg 429w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium.clade430.jpg?w=89&h=150 89w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/protictitherium.clade430.jpg?w=179&h=300 179w” sizes=”(max-width: 429px) 100vw, 429px” />
Figure 5. Subset of the LRT focusing on the civet clade leading to Protictitherium.
These, in turn, are sisters to the sabertooths (Smilodon) and these are sisters to the canids Canis (the wolf) and Chrysocyon ( the maned wolf) all arising from Mesocyon (Fig 2). So that’s a wide gamut of teeth in a small clade within Carnivora in the LRT.
Of course,
all of this could change (based on my experience of the last two years). Some interrelationships in the Mammalia are still fragile. Then again, the LRT could be getting closer to achieving the goal of full resolution.
After all this time,
sabertooth ‘cats’ still do not nest with cats and lions in the LRT.
References
Fraile Gracia S 2016. Estudio de Protictitherium crassum del Cerro de los Batallones (Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid): aportación a la filogenia y evolución de la familia hyaenidae (in Spanish). Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Kretzoi M 1938. Die Raubtiere von Gombaszög nebst einer Übersicht der Gesamtfauna. Annales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 31:88–157.
Koufos GD and Konidaris GE 2011. Late Miocene carnivores of the Greco-Iranian Province: Composition, guild structure and palaeoecology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 305 (1): 215–226.
wiki/Mesocyon
wiki/Protictitherium
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2025/09/16/protictitherium-vs-smaller-earlier-mesocyon/
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