Comparing Cats: A Discussion of Similarities & Differences

[Sully]

I always thought the comparison between clouded leopards and the sabertooth morphology were exaggerations, and that the only had marginally proportionally longer canines than the rest of the pantherinae. However this skull really surprised me, and it's clear to see the similarities with the machairodonts. It's almost an intermediate between the skulls of the panthera and those of the sabertooths. Of course they aren't very alike with the clouded leopard having more pronounced lower canines, a shallower forehead and a less developed sagittal crest. Regardless the comparison holds more weight than I first gave it, and maybe that's just an oversight from me, but I thought it would be interesting to share.

Below is the skull of a sunda clouded leopard and what I'm guessing is smilodon fatalis (the website this image came from doesn't specify).

*This image is copyright of its original author

Compare this with a tiger skull, and the differences are clear to see, with the upper canines not even clearing the mandible, and being relatively thicker at the base.

*This image is copyright of its original author

So I read a few studies, here are some interesting figures and excerpts below

From: Evolutionary convergence of primitive sabertooth craniomandibular morphology: the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and Paramachairodus ogygia compared

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Comparative skull and jaw morphology of the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and Paramachairous ogygia. a Skulls in lateral view of Neofelis (left; BM30.3.3.5 [♀]) and Paramachairodus (right; B-1377); b upper canines in lateral view of Neofelis (left; CN35 [♂]) and Paramachairodus (right; B-5797); c upper canines in anterior view of Neofelis (left; CN35 [♂]) and Paramachairodus (right; B-5797); d lower jaw symphysis in anterior view of Neofelis (left; BM1938.11.30.24 [♂]) and Paramachairodus (right; B-751); e lower jaw ramus in lateral view of Neofelis (left; BM1938.11.30.22 [♀]) and Paramachairodus (right; B-3109); f–k mastoid region of Paramachairodus (f B-1377; g B-3334; h B-4322) and Neofelis (i ZMB81359; j ZMB22198; k BM43.65), showing approximate anteroposterior/dorsoventral outlines of the mastoid process (double-headed black arrows). mp Mastoid process; pp paroccipital process. Scale bars = 5 cm





Neofelis (0.238 ± 0.012) and Paramachairodus (n = 12; 0.246 ± 0.024) both have distinctly longer canines compared to condylobasal skull length than all extant Panthera (all p < 0.001; Figs. 2a, 5b), and are similar to each other (p = 0.937). Paramachairodus has equally long upper canines relative to skull length to Machairodus aphanistus (n = 3; 0.260 ± 0.033; p = 0.962), Dinofelis barlowi (0.233), and Homotherium serum (0.246; both p = 0.998). Neofelis also has canine/skull ratio equal to M. aphanistus (p = 0.462), Dinofelis (p = 0.993), and Homotherium (p = 0.987). Neofelis and Paramachairodus have, however, significantly (p < 0.001) shorter canines to skull length than other advanced sabertoothed felids, such as Machairodus giganteus (n = 2; 0.329 ± 0.030), Megantereon cultridens (0.392), and Smilodon fatalis (n = 2; 0.446 ± 0.008; see also Christiansen 2006).

"The width across the incisor arcade relative to conylobasal skull length in Neofelis (0.127 ± 0.006) is significantly (p < 0.01) below the ratios among the other great cats (lion [0.146 ± 0.008]; jaguar [0.144 ± 0.011]; tiger [0.155 ± 0.095]; and snow leopard [0.140 ± 0.008]), but is non-significantly different (p = 0.647) from the leopard (0.131 ± 0.007). Neofelis is also far below (p < 0.001) the ratios in Megantereon (n = 2; 0.158 ± 0.016), Machairodus giganteus (n = 2; 0.174 ± 0.014), and Smilodon (n = 7; 0.184 ± 0.013). The values in the last two taxa are significantly (p < 0.01) higher than in any modern felid, but in Megantereon is only significantly above those of Neofelis and the leopard among extant felids."

"A Discriminant Analysis on the partial warp scores indicated substantial differences among the species (Wilk’s Lambda = 0.0001; p < 0.0001), and Neofelis and Paramachairodus clearly stand out from Panthera (Fig. 7a). The F-matrix indicated that Neofelis is very different from Panthera, but the F-score between Neofelis and Paramachairodus indicates much greater similarity. In fact, so similar is mandibular shape in Neofelis and Paramachairodus that one specimen of the latter was misclassified as the former in a subsequent jack-knifed classification analysis (Table 6). The jack-knifed classification matrix showed slight misclassification of some species of Panthera, and most often the misclassification was with the leopard."

And from: Sabertooth characters in the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa Griffiths 1821)

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Are clouded leopards on the evolutionary road to reviving this very successful killing adaption? They very well could be. Reply