Comments on a small sabretooth cat in the Abismo Ponta de Flecha Cave, Vale do Ribeira, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The Vale do Ribeira, located in southeastern Brazil, is known for many caves with osteological material, including several extinct species. The saber-tooth cat Smilodon populator was a large predator that inhabited the Pleistocene and Holocene of South America. A specimen found in the Abismo Ponta de Flecha Cave based on small bones (metacarpals and phalanges) is commented here. The metacarpals have morphological characteristics of S. populator, but are smaller than that of S. fatalis and Panthera onca and larger than that of S. gracilis. The specimen is among the smallest ever found and is comparable in size to an adult lion.