Abstract

The renowned site of Dmanisi in Georgia, southern Caucasus (ca. 1.8 Ma) yielded the earliest direct evidence of hominin presence out of Africa. In this paper, we report on the first record of a large-sized canid from this site, namely dentognathic remains, referable to a young adult individual that displays hypercarnivorous features (e.g., the reduction of the m1 metaconid and entoconid) that allow us to include these specimens in the hypodigm of the late Early Pleistocene species Canis (Xenocyon) lycaonoides. Much fossil evidence suggests that this species was a cooperative pack-hunter that, unlike other large-sized canids, was capable of social care toward kin and non-kin members of its group. This rather derived hypercarnivorous canid, which has an East Asian origin, shows one of its earliest records at Dmanisi in the Caucasus, at the gates of Europe. Interestingly, its dispersal from Asia to Europe and Africa followed a parallel route to that of hominins, but in the opposite direction. Hominins and hunting dogs, both recorded in Dmanisi at the beginning of their dispersal across the Old World, are the only two Early Pleistocene mammal species with proved altruistic behaviour towards their group members, an issue discussed over more than one century in evolutionary biology.

Details

Title
The early hunting dog from Dmanisi with comments on the social behaviour in Canidae and hominins
Author
Bartolini-Lucenti Saverio 1 ; Madurell-Malapeira Joan 2 ; Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido 3 ; Palmqvist, Paul 4 ; Lordkipanidze, David 5 ; Rook, Lorenzo 6 

 University of Florence, Earth Science Department, Paleo[Fab]Lab, Firenze, Italy (GRID:grid.8404.8) (ISNI:0000 0004 1757 2304); Natural History Museum, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy (GRID:grid.8404.8) (ISNI:0000 0004 1757 2304) 
 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain (GRID:grid.7080.f); Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Department of Geology, Facultat de Ciències, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain (GRID:grid.7080.f) 
 IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain (GRID:grid.452421.4); Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Area de Prehistòria, Tarragona, Spain (GRID:grid.410367.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 2284 9230); ICREA, Barcelona, Spain (GRID:grid.425902.8) (ISNI:0000 0000 9601 989X) 
 Universidad de Málaga, Departamento de Ecología y Geología, Málaga, Spain (GRID:grid.10215.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2298 7828) 
 Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia (GRID:grid.452450.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 0739 408X); Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia (GRID:grid.26193.3f) (ISNI:0000 0001 2034 6082) 
 University of Florence, Earth Science Department, Paleo[Fab]Lab, Firenze, Italy (GRID:grid.8404.8) (ISNI:0000 0004 1757 2304) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2556149743
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.