‘Magerifelis peignei’ is a Cat or big cat that lived in Madrid about 15 million years ago. The animal was named so by a team of paleontologists from the region National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN) who belongs to the CSIC who just described this new cat genus and species who lived in the capital of Spain in the middle Miocene. The discovery was recently published in the journal “Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology‘.
This, as reported by this institution, is a crucial discovery in understanding this Evolution of catsbecause “it represents a new, previously unknown cat form with a primitive dentition and a very robust jaw. The name of the genus refers to the city of Madrid (founded as Magerit), followed by Felis (cat in Latin).” In turn, Museum researchers add that the species is dedicated Stéphane Peigné, a French paleontologist who worked with the team for many years until his death in 2017.
The description of this cat was based on a jaw recovered in 2007 from the paleontological site discovered during the renovation work on the Príncipe Pío motorway junction in Madrid.
And as experts explain: “During the Miocene epoch (20 to 5 million years ago), there lived a group of small cats whose relationships are very poorly known due to the scarcity of fossil remains.”
In fact, only a few teeth and bone fragments have been available so far.” It should also be noted that Madrid’s climate at this time, the middle Miocene, was warmer than today and its landscape was dominated by extensive wooded meadows, while areas with more vegetation were developed.
During work on the Príncipe Pío interchange in 2007
“In 2007, an interesting Middle Miocene paleontological site was discovered in Príncipe Pío. One of the most outstanding fossils of the material recovered was the jaw of a small cat,” he explains. Manuel Salesa, MNCN researcher.
The researcher adds that the lower jaw was practically restored, having preserved almost all of his dentition in exceptional condition. “The most surprising thing is that it had a tiny second lower molar, a tooth that is missing from all modern and fossil big cats except Proailurus, the first big cat known in the fossil record, whose localities date back 25 million years, much older than that of Príncipe Pío,” as clarified Gema Siliceo, MNCN researcher.
On his part and as stated by the Paleoartist Mauricio Antón: “Thanks to the use of CT scans, we were able to examine the internal morphology of these teeth and observed that the lower second molar had a relatively large root.”
“The jaw is very robust compared to that of cats of similar size, suggesting an adaptation to withstand large tensions during the bite, probably due to catching relatively large prey,” Salesa says.
“In addition to this tension resistance, the muscles responsible for the bite have highly developed insertion areas, indicating relatively larger muscle masses than other cats of similar size,” he continues.
Finally, and as he adds and confesses in the statement, Jesús Gamarra, who carried out the reconstruction of the species’ appearance in life: “It’s not often that we get to work on such a complete piece to reconstruct a fossil species, so it was a very stimulating experience.”