CEPHALOGALINI Bonis, 2013

Bonis, Louis de, Gardin, Axelle & Blondel, Cécile, 2019, Carnivora from the early Oligocene of the ‘ Phosphorites du Quercy’ in southwestern France, Geodiversitas 41 (15), pp. 601-621 : 612

TRIBE CEPHALOGALINI Bonis, 2013

REMARKS

The Cephalogalini were present in Western Europe from the Oligocene to the early Miocene (MN3). Like the Hemicyoninae as a whole, they are considered to be pursuit predators with a canid-like way of life ( Hunt 1996: 493; 2009: 4). They are represented by hundreds of mandibles in the old Quercy collections but are less frequent in the new ones, except for a few places like Pech du Fraysse and Pech Desse ( Bonis 2013), two localities of the late Oligocene (MP 29). The type genus of the tribe, Cephalogale Jourdan, 1862, is founded on the species C. geoffroyi Jourdan, 1862 from an Oligocene locality of central France. The genus is common from the late Oligocene to the lower Miocene, with several species but is less common in the early Oligocene. Nevertheless, Cephalogale was doubtfully reported in Valbro ( Peigné et al. 2014: fig. 19b) on the basis of a buccal piece of M1 and cited in Mas de Got ( Rémy et al. 1987) as Cephalogale minor. The tribe is definitively present in the latter locality.