Cryptoprocta sp. nov. 'Madagascar'
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct (Lewis et al., 2020; Michielsen et al., 2023; Godfrey et al., 2024)
Last record: late Holocene (Michielsen et al., 2023); >8.3 kyr BP (Godfrey et al., 2024)
There is a very remote chance that this species still persists, with quite a few reports by locals (Freed, 1996; Goodman et al., 2003, 2004; Nomenjanahary et al., 2021). It has also been encountered by at least one visiting PhD student, Benjamin Freed:
"In December 1989, at 06:00 hours, one of us (BZF) witnessed a large euplerid carnivoran locally known as fosabe (big fosa) or fosa jobijoby (blackish fosa) who had entered his field tent at Montagne d’Ambre. The animal was “twice the size and much darker than the common fossa” (Freed, 1996, p. 34). The individual was black and weighed approximately 20-25 kg. Freed wrote that the animal was well known to the local people and that “many local people also reported seeing it”. The animal fits paleontologists’ expectations for Cryptoprocta spelea, a large carnivoran known from the fossil record, believed to have been extinct for at least 1000 years."
(Nomenjanahary et al., 2021:159; but see pp.161-162)
Distribution & Habitat
Madagascar
Anatomy & Morphology
It was the largest of the three known species of Cryptoprocta, with an estimated body mass of 27-32kg (Lewis et al., 2020; Godfrey et al., 2024).
Biology & Ecology
It likely preyed upon the now extinct giant lemurs (Lewis et al., 2020; Godfrey et al., 2024).
Hypodigm
Media
References
Freed, Benjamin Z. (1996). Co-occurrence among crowned lemurs (Lemur coronatus) and Sanford’s lemurs (Lemur fulvus sanfordi) of Madagascar. PhD thesis. Washington University, St. Louis.
Godfrey, Laurie R., Lewis, Margaret E., Crowley, Brooke E. and Klukkert, Zachary S. (2024). Reconstructing behavior in large-bodied, extinct Cryptoprocta species and their impact on Malagasy lemurs past and present, p. 59. In: 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists. Los Angeles, California, USA.
Goodman, Steven M., Ganzhorn, J. U. and Rakotondravony, D. (2003). Introduction to the mammals, pp. 1159-1186. In: Goodman, Steven M. and Benstead, J. P. (eds.). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press. 1728 pp.
Goodman, Steven M., Rasoloarison, R. M. and Ganzhorn, J. U. (2004). On the specific identification of subfossil Cryptoprocta (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Madagascar. Zoosystema 26(1): 129-143.
Lemoine, Rhys Taylor, Buitenwerf, Robert, Faurby, Sören and Svenning, Jens-Christian. (2025). Phylogenetic Evidence Supports the Effect of Traits on Late-Quaternary Megafauna Extinction in the Context of Human Activity. Global Ecology and Biogeography 34(7): e70078. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70078 [Supporting Information: Data S1]
Lewis, Margaret E., Godfrey, Laurie R., Rakotondramavo, Jean Claude, Klukkert, Zachary S., Scroxton, Nick, Burns, Stephen J., Crowley, Brooke E., McGee, David, Muldoon, Kathleen M., Meador, Lindsay R., Lehman, Phillip, Rahantaharivao, Noromamy J. and Ranivoharimanana, Lovasoa. (2020). A new extinct large predator in Madagascar: predation pressure on large-bodied Malagasy lemurs through time, p. 160. In: 89th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Los Angeles, California, USA.
Michielsen, Nathan M., Goodman, Steven M., Soarimalala, Voahangy, van der Geer, Alexandra A. E., Dávalos, Liliana M., Saville, Grace I., Upham, Nathan and Valente, Luis. (2023). The macroevolutionary impact of recent and imminent mammal extinctions on Madagascar. Nature Communications 14: 14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35215-3 [Supplementary Data 1 (mammal list); Supplementary Data 6 (references)]
Nomenjanahary, E. S., Freed, B. Z., Dollar, L. J., Randrianasy, J. and Godfrey, L. R. (2021). The stories people tell, and how they can contribute to our understanding of megafaunal decline and extinction in Madagascar. eds. K. Douglass, L. R. Godfrey & D. A. Burney. Malagasy Nature 15: 159-179.