Dinaelurus

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Dinaelurus
Temporal range: Late Eocene–Late Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Nimravidae
Subfamily: Nimravinae
Genus: Dinaelurus
Species: D. crassus
Binomial name
Dinaelurus crassus

Dinaelurus is a genus of the Nimravidae, an extinct family of feliform mammalian carnivores, also known as "false saber-toothed cats". Assigned to subfamily Nimravinae, Dinaelurus was endemic to North America during the Eocene-Oligocene epochs (30.8—20.6 mya), existing for approximately 10.2 million years.[1]

Taxonomy

Dinaelurus was named by George Francis Eaton (1922). Its type is Dinaelurus crassus. It was assigned to Nimravinae by Flynn and Galiano (1982) and Bryant (1991); and to Nimravidae by Eaton (1922) and Larry D. Martin (1998).[2][3]

Fossil distribution

One specimen was found in the John Day Formation in Oregon and was described by Eaton in 1922.

Description

Dinaelurus had a skull extremely broad for its length and had conical teeth; it could exhibit little or no development of sabertooth features and had more rounded cheek teeth with no serrated ridges. It had a relatively gracile skeleton.[4] Martin hypothesizes that it had digitigrade feet.[5]

Behavior

It is believed that Dinaelurus was a cursorial predator, meaning it ran down its prey. This is suggested by the nimravid's short face[4] and large nostrils, similar to those of a cheetah, which is also a cursorial predator, as Martin suggests.[6]

In popular culture

Dinaelurus crassus is the ancestor of the fictional species, Dinaelurus illumina sapiens, in the Ratha or "Named" series by author Clare Bell.

Here is a link to an artist's representation of Dinaelurus.

Sources

  1. ↑ PaleoBiology Database: Dinaelurus, basic info
  2. ↑ Flynn, John J. and Henry Galiano. 1982. Phylogeny of early Tertiary Carnivora, with a description of a new species of Protictis from the middle Eocene of northwestern Wyoming. American Museum Novitates.
  3. ↑ Martin, Larry D. 1998. "Nimravidae." In Christine M. Janis, Kathleen M. Scott, Louis L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 2 volumes (1998-2008).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bryant, Harold N. (1996). "Nimravidae". In Donald R. Prothero and Robert J. Emry. The Terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene Transition in North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 468. ISBN 0521433878. 
  5. ↑ Martin 1998, p. 228.
  6. ↑ Martin 1998, p. 228.
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