Editing Crocuta (section)

==Taxonomy==
It is still unclear whether the genus evolved in [[Africa]] or [[Asia]], although the oldest known fossils are from Africa and dated to about 3.8 mya.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Rao |first1=Huiyun |title=Palaeoproteomic analysis of Pleistocene cave hyenas from east Asia |journal=Scientific Reports |date=2020 |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=16674 |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-73542-x |pmid=33028848 |pmc=7541484 }}</ref> The earliest remains from Asia currently attributed to the genus is ''Crocuta honanensis'' from the Early Pleistocene of China dating to around 2.5-2.2 million years ago, but its relationship to the living spotted hyena is ambiguous. ''Crocuta'' first appears in Europe around 800,000 years ago at the beginning of the [[Middle Pleistocene]], replacing the giant hyena ''[[Pachycrocuta]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Iannucci |first1=Alessio |last2=Mecozzi |first2=Beniamino |last3=Sardella |first3=Raffaele |last4=Iurino |first4=Dawid Adam |date=November 2021 |title=The extinction of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris and a reappraisal of the Epivillafranchian and Galerian Hyaenidae in Europe: Faunal turnover during the Early–Middle Pleistocene Transition |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379121004479 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=272 |pages=107240 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107240|bibcode=2021QSRv..27207240I |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Eurasian "[[cave hyenas]]" (''Crocuta spelaea'', ''Crocuta ultima'' and others) have either been considered subspecies of the living spotted hyena,<ref name=":0" /> or as distinct species.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Margaret E. |last2=Werdelin |first2=Lars |date=2022-04-14 |title=A revision of the genus Crocuta (Mammalia, Hyaenidae) |url=http://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/pala/detail/322/101138/A_revision_of_the_genus_Crocuta_Mammalia_Hyaenidae?af=crossref |journal=Palaeontographica Abteilung A |volume=322 |issue=1–4 |pages=1–115 |bibcode=2022PalAA.322....1L |doi=10.1127/pala/2022/0120 |issn=0375-0442|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Genetic analysis of cave hyenas have found them to be strongly genetically divergent from living African spotted hyenas, albeit with some evidence of limited interbreeding between the two populations.<ref name="HyenaPalaeogenomes">{{Cite journal |last1=Westbury |first1=Michael V. |last2=Hartmann |first2=Stefanie |last3=Barlow |first3=Axel |last4=Preick |first4=Michaela |last5=Ridush |first5=Bogdan |last6=Nagel |first6=Doris |last7=Rathgeber |first7=Thomas |last8=Ziegler |first8=Reinhard |last9=Baryshnikov |first9=Gennady |last10=Sheng |first10=Guilian |last11=Ludwig |first11=Arne |last12=Wiesel |first12=Ingrid |last13=Dalen |first13=Love |last14=Bibi |first14=Faysal |last15=Werdelin |first15=Lars |date=2020-03-13 |title=Hyena paleogenomes reveal a complex evolutionary history of cross-continental gene flow between spotted and cave hyena |journal=[[Science Advances]] |volume=6 |issue=11 |pages=eaay0456 |bibcode=2020SciA....6..456W |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aay0456 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=7069707 |pmid=32201717}}</ref>

Two [[Extinction|extinct]] species are known to have coexisted with each other in eastern Africa during the [[Pliocene]]; ''Crocuta eturono'' and ''Crocuta dietrichi'', each one probably occupying a different [[Ecological niche|niche]] in regards to their preference for [[Scavenger|scavenging]] or [[hunting]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coca-Ortega |first1=Carlos |last2=Pérez-Claros |first2=Juan Antonio |title=Characterizing ecomorphological patterns in hyenids: a multivariate approach using postcanine dentition |journal=PeerJ |date=2019 |volume=6 |pages=e6238 |doi=10.7717/peerj.6238 |pmid=30648005 |pmc=6330948 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In [[Ahl al Oughlam]], a Pliocene site in [[Morocco]], lived the species ''Crocuta dbaa''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Geraads |first1=Denis |last2=Alemseged |first2=Zeresenay |last3=Bobe |first3=René |last4=Reed |first4=Denné |date=July 2015 |title=Pliocene Carnivora (Mammalia) from the Hadar Formation at Dikika, Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1464343X15000722 |journal=[[Journal of African Earth Sciences]] |language=en |volume=107 |pages=28–35 |doi=10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.03.020 |bibcode=2015JAfES.107...28G |access-date=10 January 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In [[China]] there was a Pliocene species, ''Crocuta honanensis'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sheng |first1=Gui-Lian |title=Pleistocene Chinese cave hyenas and the recent Eurasian history of the spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta |journal=Molecular Ecology |date=2013 |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=522–533 |doi=10.1111/mec.12576|pmid=24320717 |s2cid=25812110 }}</ref> The holotype of ''Crocuta sivalensis'' from the Indian subcontinent has been determined to be a specimen of ''[[Pliocrocuta]]'' and unrelated to ''Crocuta'' proper.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Werdelin |first1=Lars |last2=Lewis |first2=Margaret E. |title=The taxonomic identity of the type specimen of Crocuta sivalensis (Falconer, 1867) |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=2012 |volume=32 |issue=6 |pages=1453–1456 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2012.694593|bibcode=2012JVPal..32.1453W |s2cid=83475651 }}</ref>