Viverravidae

This article is about an extinct family of mammals. For the extant family, see Viverridae.
Viverravidae
Temporal range: Paleocene-Eocene 66–40Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Superfamily: †Miacoidea
Family: †Viverravidae
Wortman & Matthew 1899, p. 136
Genera

†Bryanictis
†Didymictis
†Ictidopappus
†Mustelodon
†Pristinictis
†Protictis
†Raphictis
†Simpsonictis
†Viverravus
†Viverriscus

Viverravidae is an extinct family of the superfamily Miacoidea. They are related to carnivorans, and lived from the early Palaeocene to the Eocene.

In viverravids, the number of molars is reduced to two and the skull is elongated. Viverravidae is a monophyletic family, a plesion-group. They are not thought to be related to any extant carnivorans.[1]

The viverravids were thought to be the earliest carnivorans: they first appeared in the Paleocene of North America about 60 million years ago. Recent cranial morphology evidence now places them outside the order Carnivora.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Wesley-Hunt, G.D.; Flynn, J.J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Paleontology 3: 1–28. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518.
  2. ↑ Polly, David, Gina D. Wesley-Hunt, Ronald E. Heinrich, Graham Davis and Peter Houde (2006). "Earliest known carnivoran auditory bulla and support for a recent origin of crown-clade carnivora (Eutheria, Mammalia)" (PDF). Palaeontology 49 (5): 1019–1027. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00586.x.