Oxyaena

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oxyaena
Fossil range: late Paleocene to early Eocene

Fossil

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Creodonta
Family:	Oxyaenidae
Genus:	Oxyaena Cope, 1874

Species

O. lupina (type)
O. forcipata
O. gulo
O. intermedia
O. pardalis
O. simpsoni

Oxyaena is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal. They were somewhat cat like, with a fairly long, flexible body (1 m. long), and short limbs. Oxyaena looked rather like a cat or a marten.

It had a broad, low skull (20 cm. long) with a long, facial part and a massive lower jaw, while its body and tail were long and its five-toed limbs were short.

Unlike true carnivores, Oxyaena trod on the whole surface of its soles.

Our knowledge of its habits is very small, but it is thought to have lived in a similar manner to the wolverine of today.