PRESENCE OF THE AFRICAN MACHAIRODONT MEGANTEREON-WHITEI (BROOM, 1937)(FELIDAE, CARNIVORA, MAMMALIA) IN THE LOWER PLEISTOCENE SITE OF VENTA-MICENA (ORCE, GRANADA, SPAIN), WITH SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ORIGIN, EVOLUTION AND DISPERSAL OF THE GENUS

We have made a comparative analysis of dental morphometries of the Meg antereon specimens found in the Lower Pleistocene site at Venta Micena (Orce, Granada, Southeastern Spain) with representatives of the genus throughout the Old and New World. The methodologies used in the study include discriminant functions and principal component analysis. The results obtained point to the presence of three distinct species of th is genus: M. cultridens (Cuvier), indigenous to North America from the Lower Pliocene onwards, which in the Indian subcontinent gave rise to the larger sized species M. falconeri Pomel during the Upper Pliocene . M. cultridens survived until the Middle Pleistocene in China, and it s African descendant M. whitei Broom colonized Europe at the time of t he Plio-Pleistocene boundary, reaching Dmanisi via the Near East and s outhern part of the Iberian Peninsula at Venta Micena via the Strait o f Gibraltar. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited