Late pleistocene hyena Crocuta ultima ussurica (Mammalia: Carnivora: Hyaenidae) from the Paleolithic Site in Geographical Society Cave in the Russian Far East

Abstract

Fossil hyena remains recovered from Geographical Society Cave in the southern part of Primorskii Territory in Russia are referred, as a result of this study, to Crocuta ultima ussurica. The available radiocarbon dates define a time of the fossiliferous layer as the warm stage of the Late Pleistocene (MIS 3). Morphological difference between C. ultima ussurica and C. crocuta spelaea appeared to be as follows: the former species has more robust (with regards to the skull size) cheek teeth implying bone-crushing adaptation; the latter species exhibits more carnivorous specialization. Taphonomical analysis of the bone assemblage suggests the cave was used as a hyena den; no essential dissimilarity is observed between hyena dens in Europe/Western Siberia and in the Russian Far East. The existence of two chronosubspecies is proposed: C. ultima ultima from the Middle Pleistocene of China and C. u. ussurica from the Late Pleistocene of the Russian Far East and China.