Oxyaenidae

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

Oxyaenidae is a family of the extinct order Creodonta; it contains three subfamilies comprising ten genera. The placement of a fourth subfamily, Machaeroidinae, is unsure, it may belong here or in Hyaenodontidae.

• ORDER CREODONTA creodonts
  • Family Oxyaenidae
    • Subfamily Ambloctoninae
      • Genus Ambloctonus
      • Genus Dipsalodon
      • Genus Dormaalodon
      • Genus Palaeonictis
    • Subfamily Oxyaeninae
      • Genus Dipsalidictis
      • Genus Oxyaena
      • Genus Patriofelis
      • Genus Protopsalis
      • Genus Sarkastodon
    • Subfamily Tytthaeninae
      • Genus Tytthaena
    • ?Subfamily Machaeroidinae
      • Genus Apataelurus
      • Genus Machaeroides

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] References

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