Metailurini

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Metailurini
Fossil range: Late Miocene to Middle Pleistocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Tribe: Metailurini
Genera

Dinofelis
Metailurus
Adelphailurus
Stenailurus
Pontosmilus

Metailurini is a tribe of extinct cats with relatively small saber teeth. Traditionally placed within the Machairodontinae, they count as members of the subfamily Felinae today [1]. They existed from the Miocene to early Pleistocene, with most species being found in Eurasia. Members of this tribe were all scimitar-toothed (having broad and mildy elongated upper canines). Like most extinct cats, the majority of species in Metailurini are known only from fragments, so the systematic position and taxonomy of these creatures is debatable.

The best known genera in this tribe are Dinofelis and Metailurus.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende, Michael Morlo, Doris Nagel: Fossils explained 52 Majestic killers: the sabre-toothed cats. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Geology Today, Vol. 22, No. 4, July–August 2006 online
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