Carnivora from the Sespe of the Las Posas Hills, California

Abstract

The generic assemblage of carnivores known at present from the Kew Quarry of the Las Posas Hills, Ventura County, California, is perhaps most noteworthy because of its resemblance to that recorded from the John Day. Three members of the Canidae and two of the Felidae have been listed on the basis of skull remains. More detailed investigation of the structural characters of these types reveals a close specific similarity to comparable forms from the John Day. Indeed, one of the principal reasons for regarding the fauna from the Kew Quarry as closely related in time to that from the John Day beds of eastern Oregon is furnished by this kinship among the Carnivora. Although all of the carnivores are new to the Tertiary mammalian faunas of the Californian region, the skull material of Hoplophoneus possesses added interest, representing as it does the smallest sabre-tooth cat from North America. Surprising, to say the least, is this striking evidence that within the Tertiary faunal province of southern California occurred an early member of that great group of cats, of which one of the latest and most advanced stages of development is recorded so fully in the Pleistocene Smilodon of the asphalt deposits of Rancho La Brea.