POSTCRANIAL MORPHOLOGY AND LOCOMOTOR BEHAVIOR OF 2 EARLY EOCENE MIACOID CARNIVORANS, VULPAVUS AND DIDYMICTIS

The postcranial skeletons of two contemporaneous early Eocene carnivor ans, the miacid Vulpavus and the viverravid Didymictis, are described and compared with behaviourally diverse small and medium-bodied extant carnivorans. Body mass estimates based on the cross sectional geometr y of humeri and femora indicate that these two taxa were similar in si ze, estimates for both genera ranging from about 3.5 to 7.5 kg. It is argued that Vulpavus was well adapted for climbing and was possibly ar boreal, with locomotor behaviours comparable to those of the coatimund i (Nasua). Didymictis, on the other hand, was primarily terrestrial an d probably incipiently cursorial. No modern taxon is similar to Didymi ctis in all aspects of the postcranial skeleton, but the Oriental cive t (Viverra) is probably a reasonable modern analogue.