This week I have nice chunky skull for you to have a go at identifying:
Any idea which species this is from? If you find this one easy then have a go at keeping your suggestion cryptic – no point spoiling the fun! Enjoy!
Friday mystery object #447
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
Zygoma 
Oh my! Are we seeing spots before our eyes???
Before there were dogs there was this washerman?
Musky for sure, but oh my what flat chompers you have my dear…
Don’t want to let the (bear) cat out of the bag. 😉
What a cute little heart-shaped nose hole (s)he has!
Certainly looks like a Carnivoran, but far from being an exclusive carnivore.
I think there is a small tooth right behind the canine on the left side of the upper jaw, and room for one on the right side. So the upper jaws have 4 premolars and 2 molars (a fairly standard complement for Caniforms). But look at the last premolar. This is the one that’s “supposed” to be the carnassial in Carnivorans, but this has a very “primitive” looking triangular array of three cusps.
Looks as if there is room for a small first premolar right behind the canines in the upper jaws. In which case the upper dental formula id I3C1P4M2 — fairly standard for caniforms. But look at the last upper premolar, which ought to be the carnassial in a Carnivoran: nothing carnassial about it, just a neat triangular array of three cusps.
Is this maybe from a female of a species whose males have even chunkier and more robust skills? A species which, looking at the molars, is a mainly vegetarian Carnivoran?
####### Skull
Yep!
Getting away from the teeth, one striking thing about this skull is the convex profile: the skull roof and the upper side of the snout form a single curve. I think this is unusual. For instance, the Binturong (suggested, unless I misread the cryptic hint, by J.B.) seems to have a bit of a concavity in profile: the skull slopes down sharply in front of the orbits, then flexes up so the top of the snout is more level. The convex profile looks superficially cat-like, but of course the one clear thing about this specimen is that it is not a cat: wrong number and wrong shape of teeth! (J.B. might have been hinting at a different species, though, which is still open…)
(I seem to be doing a monologue of my thinking here!)
There really do seem to be four upper premolars (the fist missing on the right side). I was leaning toward an identity of… Chrome, or Safari, or ……. , but that’s too many for that species.
There is a band across the auditory bulla: closer to the mid-line of the skull at the front, then angling a bit out. It’s whiter than the surrounding areas (maybe thicker, less translucent, bone?) and has some “pinholes” (foramina?) along it. Thought: this might mark the position of an internal septum. In which case this is a Feliform (and so not a browsing Caniform!). So maybe we should let the “cat” out of the bag again?
I think that might be overinterpretation – I’m confident I’m right (though maybe my cryptic clue is too cryptic) and this is a member of the dog-branch of carnivorans.
Adam–
I think I understand your cryptic clue, and I don’t think Paolo’s specimen looks quite right for that species. But a lot closer than I realized! I’ll think (and web-browse) some more: you may be right!
Adam–
(Concession speech: I’ve spent a while looking at skull pictures, and not spotted anything I can point to as showing a difference between Paolo’s specimen and your washing pre-dog.)
The Wikipedia article on your species, b.t.w., has a bunch of skull photos. Frustratingly small, but… I think at least one shows bands across the bullae like the ones I described on Paolo’s. So my thought that the band marked the position of the internal septum wasn’t just an over, but a downright mis, interpretation!
(And to make it worse, looking at the archetypal Feliform, I couldn’t see any external sign of the supposed internal septum. So I guess I can’t diagnose Feliformity vs. Caniformity from external photos o the bullae!)
Allen-
I guess we find out tomorrow. I think you are right that there is no external expression of a septate bulla, at least not one that we are picking up
Allen, lots of great consideration there!