Sansanosmilus

Sansanosmilus (pronounced - San-San-Oh-SMILE-Uss) is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal of the family Barbourofelidae (false saber-tooth cats) endemic to Europe, and Asia living during the Miocene 13.6—11.1 mya, existing for approximately 2.5 million years.^[1]

Taxonomy

Sansanosmilus was named by Kretzoi (1929). bIt was assigned to Hoplophoneinae by Flynn and Galiano (1982); to Felidae by Carroll (1988); to Barbourofelinae by Bryant (1991); and to Barbourofelidae by Morlo et al. (2004) and Morlo (2006)

It had short legs, was very muscular and had a long tail. Sansanosmilus was 1.5 m long and probably its weight was 80 kg.

Species of Sansanosmilus

• Sansanosmilus jourdani - which lived in Astaracian and Vallesian stage in Spain, Germany and France
• Sansanosmilus jourdani vallesiensis - which lived in Vallesian stage in Spain
• Sansanosmilus palmidens - which lived in Orleanian and Astaracian stage in France and China
• Sansanosmilus vallesiensis (probably Sansanosmilus jourdani vallesiensis) - which lived in Vallesian stage in Spain

References