Yoshi (genus)

Yoshi is an extinct genus of machairodontine sabertooth cat in the tribe Metailurini. Its fossils were described from Turolian deposits from the Miocene epoch of the Balkan Peninsula in 2014 and specimens from China once thought to belong to Metailurus. The name comes from that of the lead author's pet cat. It has been described as potentially being synonymous with Metailurus, though this is difficult to confirm at present. The type specimen is a skull that bears remarkable similarities with the modern cheetah. Yoshi is intermediate in size between a lynx and cougar, and based on several as-yet unpublished skeletons (as of 2014), may have had a similar lifestyle to the cheetah, being better built for speed and fast pursuit than most other machairodonts, which were more suited to ambush and hunting large, relatively slow moving animals.[1][2]

Yoshi
Temporal range:
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: †Machairodontinae
Tribe: †Metailurini
Genus: †Yoshi
Spassov and Geraads, 2014
Type species
Yoshi garevskii
Spassov and Geraads, 2014
Other species
  • †Yoshi faie Jiangzuo et al., 2022
  • †Yoshi minor (Zdansky, 1924)
  • †Yoshi obscura (Hendey, 1974)
  • †Yoshi yongdengensis Jiangzuo et al., 2022
Synonyms

Yoshi minor

  • Metailurus minor Zdansky, 1924
  • Metailurus parvulus
  • Machairodus parvulus
  • Pikermia parvula
  • Parapseudailurus minor

Yoshi obscura

  • Felis obscura
  • Adelphailurus obscura
  • Megantereon obscura
  • Metailurus obscurus

Taxonomic History

In 1862, Hensel described the species Machairodus parvulus based poorly preserved skulls from Pikermi, Greece;[3] it was reassigned to a new genus Pikermia as Pikermia parvula by Miklos Kretzoi in 1938.[4] In that same paper he proposed to include Metailurus minor as a member of another genus, Parapseudailurus;[4] but Thenius in 1951 and Beaumont in 1961 considered M. parvulus and M. minor to be the same taxon with M. minor as the junior synonym of M. parvulus.[1]

A decision which was followed by later researchers until the paper detailing the new genus Yoshi which, among other decisions, declared M. parvulus, and the genus Pikermia erected for it, a nomen dubium due to the generally fragmented nature of all material assigned to the species.[1]

In 2022, two new species Yoshi faie and Yoshi yongdengensis were proposed based on fossils found in northeastern China.[5] And in 2023, a fifth species Yoshi obscura, which had previously been assigned to the genera Metailurus and Felis amongst others, was added, along with a suggestion that Tchadailurus adei be included in the genus Yoshi.[6]

References
  1. Spassov, Nikolai (2014-05-15). "A New Felid from the Late Miocene of the Balkans and the Contents of the Genus Metailurus Zdansky, 1924 (Carnivora, Felidae)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 22: 45–56. doi:10.1007/s10914-014-9266-5. S2CID 14261386.
  2. "Metailurus or Yoshi? Meet the real cats behind the names | chasing sabretooths". Chasingsabretooths.wordpress.com. 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
  3. Hensel, R. F. (1862). "Über die Reste einiger Säugetierarten von Pikermi in der Münchener Sammlung". Monatsberichte Akad Wiss. 27: 560–569.
  4. Kretzoi, Miklós (1938). "Die Raubtiere von Gombaszög nebst einer Ubersicht der Gesamtfauna" [The predators of Gombaszög together with an overview of the overall fauna] (PDF). Annales historico-naturales Musei nationalis hungarici (in German). Budapest: Hungarian Natural History Museum. 31: 88–157. ISSN 0521-4726.
  5. Jiangzuo, Q.; Niu, K.; Li, S.; Fu, J.; Wang, S. (2022). "A Diverse Metailurine Guild from the Latest Miocene Xingjiawan Fauna, Yongdeng, Northwestern China, and Generic Differentiation of Metailurine Felids". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 29 (4): 845–862. doi:10.1007/s10914-022-09622-8. S2CID 252662658.
  6. Jiangzuo, Qigao; Rabe, Caitlin; Abella, Juan; Govender, Romala; Valenciano, Alberto (2023). "Langebaanweg's sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae)". iScience: 107212. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107212.
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