Buhakia sp. I

Morales, Jorge & Pickford, Martin, 2017, New Hyaenodonts (Ferae, Mammalia) From The Early Miocene Of Napak (Uganda), Koru (Kenya) And Grillental (Namibia), Fossil Imprint 73 (3 - 4), pp. 332-359 : 337

Buhakia sp. I

1965 Metaterodon kaiseri Stromer ; Savage, pp. 270 – 271. 1998 Isohyaenodon sp. ; Morales et al., p. 636.

2010 Metapterodon kaiseri Stromer ; Lewis and Morlo, p. 551.

L o c a l i t y. Karungu, Kenya.

A g e. Early Miocene.

M a t e r i a l. Maxilla with P3 – M3 ( Savage 1965: textfig. 28, pl. 4, fig. 2, Lewis and Morlo 2010: fig. 26.5).

D i s c u s s i o n. The species Metapterodon kaiseri was recorded by Savage (1965) at the locality of Karungu. The maxilla from this site differs from that of M. kaiseri (holotype from Elisabethfeld) and M. stromeri from Langental ( Morales et al. 1998a) by the scalene triangle occlusal outline of the M2, in which the protocone-parastyle is quite a bit shorter than the length of the parastyle-metastyle. This is related to the lesser development of the isthmus which unites the protocone to the base of the paracone. The M1 and P4 of the holotype of M. kaiseri also have more developed and individualised protocones than the Karungu form, and in addition, the latter form possesses a stronger, very robust P3, which contrasts with the extremely gracile P3 of M. kaiseri (holotype; Pl. 2, Fig. 4). Like Morales et al. (1998a) we conclude that none of the forms attributed by Savage (1965) to Metapterodon , belong to this genus.

An alternative interpretation of the Karungu maxilla is that it could correspond to a form akin to Dissopsalis , a genus which has a peculiar admixture of characters, among which we emphasize the strong development of the protocone in the upper molars (M1 – M2), which agrees with the relatively strong development of the talonid of m2. As we saw above, it is one of the few characters clearly observed in the genus Buhakia , which were described by Morlo et al. (2007) and Lewis and Morlo (2010). The dimensions of the Karungu maxilla suggest that it could correspond to the available lower dentition of Buhakia . Additionally, the Karungu maxilla falls outside the known range of variation of Dissopsalis carnifex , with which it shares the robustness of the premolars (P3 – P4), and the linear disposition of the buccal cuspids of the upper molars (M1 – M2), such that the metacone is more developed than the paracone.