Smilodon populator

[GuateGojira]

Here is more information about the giant skull of S. populator: https://www.inverse.com/science/images-s...fying-size

*This image is copyright of its original author

"In a study published this month in the journal [i]Alcheringa, researchers detail how a gigantic Smilodon skull, found among sediments of the Dolores Formation in the west and south of Uruguay, completely changes paleontologists’ understanding of this ferocious feline.[/i]

“Average Smilodon populator skulls are around 35 cm long, with the length measured from premaxillary to condyle,” Aldo Manzuetti, a graduate student at Uruguay's University of the Republic and an author on the study, tells Inverse.

“This material is almost 38 cm in the same measurement, almost 40 cm in total skull length.”

Based on measurements of the long bones in the new skull, Manzuetti and his team were able to estimate just how big the cat truly was: Up to 436 kg. That is the weight of a grand piano."

The article give more details, a Condylobasal length of about 38 cm and a Greatest total length of about 40 cm. Is indead a very large skull, here is an image from the article:

*This image is copyright of its original author

In the next link I manage to download a text document with measurements: https://www.gbif.org/dataset/8901e0e4-c1...deebd598d2

Skull measurements: TL, 392; CBL, 379; OOL, 242; ZW, 240; RW, 119; IOW, 112; PCW, 100; GBM, 152; GBC, 83; FMB, 35; FMH, 32. Dental measurements (right side): TRL I-PM4, 168; Diast, 22; CAP, 52; CML, 24; PM3AP, 19; PM3ML, 12; PM4AP, 44; PM4ML, 18


So it seems that the real total length of the skull is of 392 mm and the condylobasal length is of 379 mm, very large for Smilodon standars.

Again, the original paper is this: An extremely large saber-tooth cat skull from Uruguay (late Pleistocene–early Holocene, Dolores Formation): body size and paleobiological implications.


Hope some one can get it and share it here.

Greetings. Reply