Metailurus

Metailurus
Temporal range: Miocene–Pleistocene
Metailurus skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Machairodontinae
Tribe: Metailurini
Genus: Metailurus
Zdansky (1924)
Species

M. major Zdansky, 1924
M. mongoliensis Colbert, 1939
M. ultimus Li, 2014
M. boodon

Range of Metailurus based on fossil record

Metailurus is a genus of felid saber-toothed cat in the family Machairodontidae and belonging to the tribe Metailurini, which occurred in North America, Eurasia and Africa from the Miocene to the Middle Pleistocene.[1][2][3]

Metailurus is commonly referred to by some as a "false sabertooth" cat because, instead of true saberteeth, it has a cross between long, flat and blade-like saberteeth and the shorter cone-shaped teeth of modern-day felines. This moniker however, is also used colloquially for the members of the Nimravidae, and can lead to confusion with these feliforms. The canines are longer than even the clouded leopard but significantly shorter than true saber teeth and more conical than bladed.[4]

"Metailurus" minor Zdansky, 1924 has been reassigned to the felid genus Yoshi.[5]

References

  1. ↑ McKenna, M. C.; Bell, S. K. (1997). Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press. p. 631. ISBN 978-0-231-11013-6.
  2. ↑ "Fossilworks: Metailurus". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  3. ↑ Antón, Mauricio (2013-11-22). Sabertooth. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253010490.
  4. ↑ Turner, A and Mauricio Anton. Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives 1997. Columbia University Press. New York.
  5. ↑ Nikolai Spassov; Denis Geraads (2015). "A New Felid from the Late Miocene of the Balkans and the Contents of the Genus Metailurus Zdansky, 1924 (Carnivora, Felidae)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 22 (1): 45–56. doi:10.1007/s10914-014-9266-5.
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