About 30 million years ago, parts of Egypt were covered in lush forests. Within those trees, lurked an order of fearsome big cat-sized carnivores called Hyaenodonta. These apex predators thrived after the dinosaurs went extinct, but would eventually meet their own untimely end.
Now, a team of scientists combing through the desert in present-day Fayum, Egypt have discovered an entirely new species of Hyaenodonta with tremendously powerful jaw muscles. The new species–Bastetodon syrtos–is described in a study published February 17 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Spotting a skull
Hyaenodonts like Bastetodon evolved long before modern cats, dogs, hyenas, and other carnivorous mammals. They boasted sharp hyena-like teeth and stalked African ecosystems hunting for primates, early hippos, early elephants, and beaver-like hyraxes in the forests southwest of modern Cairo. Now a desert, a team of paletontologists were digging through 30 million-year old rock layers called the Fayum Depression for more evidence on mammal evolution in Africa.
“The Fayum is one of the most important fossil areas in Africa,” Matt Borths, a study co-author and Curator of Fossils at the Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History at Duke University, said in a statement. “Without it, we would know very little about the origins of African ecosystems and the evolution of African mammals like elephants, primates, and hyaenodonts.”
These historic rocks capture the transition from the warm Eocene epoch to the cooler Oligocene epoch, and were also holding onto an exciting discovery.
“Just as we were about to conclude our work, a team member spotted something remarkable—a set of large teeth sticking out of the ground,” Shorouq Al-Ashqar, a study co-author and paleontologist from Mansoura University and the American University in Cairo said in a statement. “His excited shout brought the team together, marking the beginning of an extraordinary discovery: a nearly complete skull of an ancient apex carnivore, a dream for any vertebrate paleontologist.”
The sharp teeth and powerful jaw muscles preserved on the skull suggest that it had a very strong bite. The specimen is named after the cat-headed ancient Egyptian goddess Bastet. Bastet symbolized protection, pleasure, and good health.
A new look at an old discovery
Additionally, the new species also allowed the team to reevaluate a group of lion-sized hyaenodonts that was first discovered in Fayum over 120 years ago. This specimen belongs to a new genus named Sekhmetops in honor of Sekhmet. Sekhmet is the lion-headed goddess of wrath and war in ancient Egyptian mythology.
In 1904, Sekhmetops was initially placed within a European group of hyaenodonts. However, the new skull fossil indicates that leopard-sized Bastetodon and lion-sized Sekhmetops both belonged to a group of hyaenodonts that actually originated in Africa. Additionally, the goddess Bastet was often associated with Sekhmet, so these two animals are both symbolically and scientifically connected within the same order.
According to the team, Bastetodon and Sekhmetops later spread from Africa in several waves, ultimately reaching Asia, Europe, India, and even North America. Roughly 18 million years ago, some of the relatives of these hyaenodonts were among the largest carnivorous mammals on Earth.
[ Related: This tiny, 8-foot long whale swam off Egypt’s coast 41 million years ago. ]
The times they are a changing
Cataclysmic changes in climate and tectonic changes in Africa during the Oligocene epoch opened the continent up to the relatives of modern cats, dogs, and hyenas. Once the environments and prey began to change, the more specialized, carnivorous hyaenodonts diminished in diversity. Hyaenodonts ultimately went extinct around 25 million years ago.
“The discovery of Bastetodon is a significant achievement in understanding the diversity and evolution of hyaenodonts and their global distribution,” Al-Ashqar said. “We are eager to continue our research to unravel the intricate relationships between these ancient predators and their environments over time and across continents.”
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