Crocuta is a genus of hyena containing the largest extant member of the family, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Several fossil species are known as well.
| Crocuta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Hyaenidae |
| Subfamily: | Hyaeninae |
| Genus: | Crocuta Kaup, 1828 |
| Type species | |
| Hyaena crocuta Erxleben, 1777 | |
| Species | |
| |
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.[1]
The Eurasian "cave hyenas" (Crocuta spelaea, Crocuta ultima and others) have been classified as distinct species, but are nowadays more commonly considered prehistoric subspecies of the spotted hyena.
Two 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 niche in regards to their preference for scavenging or hunting.[2] In Ahl al Oughlam, a Pliocene site in Morocco, lived the species Crocuta dbaa.[3] In China there was a Pliocene species, Crocuta honanensis,[4] while another species from the same epoch in India known as Crocuta sivalensis has an unclear status, being regarded as anything from a synonym of the spotted hyena to an ancestor.[5]