Dissopsalis, a middle and late Miocene proviverrine creodont (Mammalia) from Pakistan and Kenya

Old World Miocene proviverrine creodonts include Dissopsalis carnifex from Pakistan and Dissopsalis pyroclasticus from Kenya. D. carnifex is a common predator in the middle and late Miocene Siwalik faunas and is known from a skull, numerous teeth and jaws, and a few isolated postcranial remains. Its chronostratigraphic range is from 16.1 to 8.8 Ma. D. pyroclasticus is much rarer. It is known for certain from only the type mandible and one fragmentary upper molar recently found in the Ngorora Formation in Kenya, although other specimens have been reported from various East African early and middle Miocene sites. The Ngorora molar is the only well-dated specimen of D. pyroclasticus and is 11.6 Ma. Dissopsalis has a hypercarnassial dentition similar to that of the hyaenodontines, but a cladistic analysis of these and other hyaenodontids indicates that Dissopsalis is only distantly related to the hyaenodontines. Instead, it is most closely related to Anasinopa leakeyi, an early Miocene species also from Kenya, and Metasinopa fraasi, a North African Oligocene species. The higher-level phylogenetic relations of these three genera are with a complex of advanced European proviverrines that includes species of Prodissopsalis, Allopterodon, Cynohyaenodon, Paracynohyaenodon, and Proviverra. Paratritemnodon indicus, a middle Eocene species from India, and Masrasector aegypticum, a North African Oligocene species, may also be members of this assemblage. Other European and North American proviverrines are only distantly related. Both species of Dissopsalis are among the youngest known hyaenodontids and in both Asia and Africa they were contemporaneous with diverse assemblages of advanced ruminants, proboscideans, muroids, and modern aeluroid carnivores. Dissopsalis probably had an African origin, but an Asian origin cannot be completely excluded.