Oxyaenidae

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Oxyaenidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Creodonta Family: Oxyaenidae
Subfamilies
Ambloctoninae  Oxyaeninae  Tytthaeninae

Oxyaenidae is a family of the extinct order Creodonta; it contains three subfamilies comprising four genera.

• ORDER CREODONTA creodonts
  • Family Oxyaenidae
    • Subfamily Abloctoninae
      • Genus Dormaalodon
    • Subfamily Oxyaeninae
      • Genus Oxyaena
      • Genus Sarkastodon
    • Subfamily Tytthaeninae
      • Genus Tytthaenis

North American oxyaenids were the first creodonts to appear, during the late Paleocene. They were cat-like beasts which walked on flat feet, in contrast to today's carnivores which (except for bears and raccoons) walk or run on their toes. Anatomically, characteristic features are a short, broad skull, deep jaws, and teeth designed for crushing rather than shearing, in the hyaenodonts.(Lambert, 163)

Oxyaenids were specialized carnivores feeding on birds, small mammals, eggs and insects, and they were capable of climbing trees, which is suggested by fossil evidence of their paws.

[edit] Reference

• David Lambert and the Diagram Group. The Field Guide to Prehistoric Life. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985. ISBN 0-8160-1125-7