Paramachairodus
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| Paramachairodus Fossil range: Middle to Late Miocene |
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Paramachairodus is one of the oldest known true saber-toothed cats (Machairodontinae). A large number of fossils were discovered in Cerro Batallones, a Late Miocene fossil site near Madrid, Spain. Two leopard-sized species are known, Paramachairodus ogygia from Vallesian to early Turolian age and Paramachairodus orientalis from the Turolian. A third species Paramachairodus maximiliani, is considered a synonym of Paramachairodus orientalis by most authors [1].
The animal was about 58 cm high at the shoulder, similar to a leopard, but with a more supple body. The shape of its limbs suggests that it may have been an agile climber, and could have hunted relatively large prey.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ MANUEL J. SALESA, MAURICIO ANTÓN, ALAN TURNER and JORGE MORALES: Aspects of the functional morphology in the cranial and cervical skeleton of the sabre-toothed cat Paramachairodus ogygia (Kaup, 1832) (Felidae, Machairodontinae) from the Late Miocene of Spain: implications for the origins of the machairodont killing bite. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Volume 144 Issue 3 Page 363-377, July 2005.
- ^ Turner, Alan (1997). The Big Cats and their fossil relatives. New York: Columbia University Press, 60. ISBN 0-231-10228-3.
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