Quantitative analyses of feliform humeri reveal the existence of a very large cat in North America during the Miocene: Supplementary data

Felids are keystone predators in modern ecosystems and likely played a similar role in shaping ecosystem through the Cenozoic. Unfortunately, understanding the paleoecological impact of felids has been hampered by taxonomic confusion and uncertainty in big cat diversity through time. This stems, in part, from the importance of dentition in differentiating feliform taxa combined with the abundance of postcrania in the fossil record. This dilemma is best illustrated by the humeri of a very large felid uncovered from a number of Hemphillian-aged localities in North America that, in the absence of craniodental remains, have not previously been definitively identified. We present the results of an analysis of the potential of isolated distal humeri to identify feliform taxa. We compared the form and size of distal humeri across feliforms using geometric morphometric analysis and used linear measurements to reconstruct body mass and estimate prey size. Our results suggest that distal humeri a...

猫科动物（Felids）是现代生态系统中的关键捕食者，且很可能在新生代（Cenozoic）时期通过类似的生态作用塑造了陆地生态系统。遗憾的是，学界对猫科动物古生态影响的认知长期受限于分类学混乱，以及不同地质时期大型猫科动物多样性的认知不确定性。该局限部分源于齿列在区分猫型总科（Feliform）类群时的核心作用，加之化石记录中躯干后骨骼（postcrania）的出土丰度较高。这一鉴定困境最典型的体现为：北美多处赫姆菲尔期（Hemphillian）地层中发现的超大型猫科动物肱骨（humeri），由于缺乏颅齿遗骸（craniodental remains），此前始终无法被精准鉴定。本研究针对孤立远端肱骨（distal humeri）识别猫型总科类群的潜力展开分析，通过几何形态测量学分析（geometric morphometric analysis）比对了不同猫型总科类群远端肱骨的形态与尺寸，并借助线性测量（linear measurements）重建受试个体的体重、估算其猎物体型。研究结果表明，远端肱骨可用于