Further evidence of the African antiquity of hyaenodontid ('Creodonta', Mammalia) evolution

We report here the new 'creodont' Lahimia selloumi gen. et sp. nov. from the late Palaeocene of the Ouled Abdoun Basin (Morocco) as the oldest known Hyaenodontidae with Tinerhodon from the Ouarzazate Basin (Morocco). By contrast to Tinerhodon, Lahimia is unexpectedly derived. Most of its specializations, such as the shortening of the anterior dentition (e.g. loss of P-1) and the talonid reduction and simplification, are strikingly shared with Boualitomus from the Ypresian of the Ouled Abdoun Basin, and are distinctive from other hyaenodontids, including 'proviverrines'. They are interpreted as synapomorphies evidencing a precociously specialized early African hyaenodontid lineage. Although Lahimia and Boualitomus remain known only by the lower dentition, their relationships with Koholia are suggested by comparison of their molar occlusal pattern. Lahimia and Boualitomus are referred to the Koholiinae, which is representative of an old African endemic lineage, as initially recognized. This remarkable lineage is characterized by synapomorphies of Lahimia and Boualitomus, and also by a shared original prevallum/postvallid shearing. The discovery of Lahimia provides direct evidence for the antiquity of the African evolution of the Hyaenodontidae. This is in agreement with an African origin of the Hyaenodontidae, and with the probable diphyletism of the 'Creodonta'. Lahimia and the Koholiinae, as well as the diversity of the first Laurasian hyaenodontid lineages, emphasize our poor knowledge of the striking early African hyaenodontid radiation. (C) 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 156, 827-846.