Hyaenidae (Carnivora) from the late Miocene of Toros-Menalla, Chad

The late Miocene Hyaenidae of Toros-Menalla (Chad) belong to four different middle or large body size taxa. The large Chasmaporthetes was a hunting predator probably adapted to open environments. The middle sized Hyaenictitherium minimum was the most abundant hyenid; it probably hunted in packs and, with a dentition far less specialized for bone-cracking than that of extant hyenas, occupied an ecological niche close to that of some extant canids. The wear on the teeth of the middle sized Belbus displays a pattern that could indicate a carcass consumer. The last hyenid, a new genus, was probably adapted to bone-cracking with a major horizontal wear of the premolars and a relatively shallow but robust mandible. Chasmaporthetes did survive until the Pleistocene but the other taxa disappeared during the Pliocene when replaced by the canids and modern hyenids.