Zedda Marco, Brunetti Antonio, Palombo Maria Rita
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Mar 25;12(7):833. doi: 10.3390/ani12070833.
This is the first study on the bony labyrinth of , an intriguing extinct canid that inhabited Sardinia in the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. The morphological features of the cochlea indicate that had a lower number of cochlear turns (2.25) than all extant canids. This feature, as well as the reduced length of the spiral canal, the cochlear curvature rate, and the narrow basal membrane, indicates that had poor hearing abilities limited to high-frequency sounds with a low limit of 250 Hz and poor echolocalization skills. From the data available, it is not possible to infer whether was unable to echolocalize its prey and relied on other senses (e.g., smell and sight) to locate them or whether the acoustic range of was specialized for identifying the sounds produced by its most common prey to transmit signals for predator warnings or group communication. All things considered, the results obtained confirm the utility of cochlea morphological studies in reconstructing the hearing abilities of this species and in providing some suggestions about its ethology, but they fall short of providing any new sound evidence regarding the ecological role of in the Late Pleistocene Sardinian ecosystem.
这是对**[物种名称缺失]骨迷路的首次研究，[物种名称缺失]是一种迷人的已灭绝犬科动物，在中更新世晚期和晚更新世栖息于撒丁岛。耳蜗的形态特征表明，[物种名称缺失]的耳蜗螺旋圈数（2.25个）比所有现存犬科动物都少。这一特征，以及螺旋管长度的缩短、耳蜗曲率率和狭窄的基底膜，表明[物种名称缺失]的听力能力较差，仅限于频率下限为250赫兹的高频声音，且回声定位技能较差。根据现有数据，无法推断[物种名称缺失]是无法对猎物进行回声定位，而是依靠其他感官（如嗅觉和视觉）来定位猎物，还是[物种名称缺失]的声学范围专门用于识别其最常见猎物发出的声音，以传递捕食者警告信号或进行群体交流。综合考虑，所获得的结果证实了耳蜗形态学研究在重建该物种听力能力以及提供有关其行为学的一些建议方面的实用性，但它们未能提供任何新的可靠证据来证明[物种名称缺失]**在晚更新世撒丁岛生态系统中的生态作用。
