Miacids

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Miacids Fossil range: Early Paleocene - Late Eocene
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Superfamily: Miacoidea
Families
Miacidae Viverravidae

The miacids were primitive carnivores which lived during the Paleocene and Eocene Epoch about 33-65 million years ago. Miacids evolved into the modern carnivorous mammals.

The miacids were small marten-like carnivores with long, little bodies, and long tails. Some species were arboreal, others lived on the ground. They probably fed on invertebrates, lizards, birds and smaller mammals like shrews and opossums. Their teeth and skull show that the miacids were less developed than the modern carnivores. They had Carnivora type carnassials but lacked fully ossified auditory bullae. They resembled Cimolestes, and this suggests that the order Carnivora evolved from a group of insectivores, related to Ungulates.

The miacids are divided into two groups: the miacines with a full complement of molars and the viverravines with a reduced number of molars and more specialized carnnassials.

[edit] Classification

The superfamily Miacoidea can be divided into two families: the Miacidae and the Viverravidae. The Miacidae evolved into the caniforms (dogs, bears, raccoons and weasels), while the Viverravidae evolved into the feliforms (cats, hyaenas and mongooses). There is, however, an alternative view that is gaining popularity during the recent years. In this view, the Miacoidea did not directly give rise to the caniforms and feliforms, but should rather be treated as a paraphyletic array of stem taxa (resulting in some "miacoid" genera ending up just outside the Carnivora proper).

Order Carnivora

• Superfamily Miacoidea†
  • Family Miacidae
    • genera: Chailicyon, Eostictis, Ictognathus, Miacis, Miocyon, Oodectes, Palaearctonyx, Paramiacis, Paroodectes, Prodaphaemus, Tapocyon, Uintacyon, Vassacyon, Vulpavus, Xinyuictis, Ziphacodon
  • Family Viverravidae
    • genera: Bryanictis, Didymictis, Ictidopappus, Mustelodon, Pristinictis, Protictis, Raphictis, Simpsonictis, Viverravus, Quergygale
• Suborder Caniformia
• Suborder Feliformia