Viverravidae

This article is about an extinct family of mammals. For the extant family, see Viverridae.

Viverravidae Temporal range: early Paleocene - late Eocene
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Clade:	Carnivoramorpha
Superfamily:	†Viverravoidea Wortman & Matthew, 1899
Family:	†Viverravidae Wortman & Matthew 1899
Genera
[see classification]
Synonyms
synonyms of family: Didymictida (Kretzoi, 1945) Didymictidae (Flynn & Galiano, 1982) Quercygalidae (Kretzoi, 1945) Viverravidea Viverravinae (Matthew, 1909)

Viverravidae ("civet ancestors") is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia. They are once thought to be earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant carnivorans, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as a relatives (a plesion-group) to extant carnivorans.

General characteristics

Wang and Tedford propose that they arose in North America 66-60 million years ago, spread to Asia then later to Europe, and were the first carnivoramorphans and possessed the first true pair of carnassial teeth. In viverravids, the skull is elongated and the number of molars is reduced to two (M1/m1 and M2/m2 are present and M3/m3 are absent).

Classification and phylogeny

Classification

Taxonomy retrieved from the Paleobiology Database

• Superfamily: †Viverravoidea (Wortman & Matthew, 1899)
  • Family: †Viverravidae (Wortman & Matthew, 1899)
    • Genus: †Orientictis (Huang & Zheng, 2005)
      • †Orientictis spanios (Huang & Zheng, 2005)
    • Genus: †Pappictidops (Qiu & Li, 1977)
      • †Pappictidops acies (Wang, 1978)
      • †Pappictidops obtusus (Wang, 1978)
      • †Pappictidops orientalis (Qiu & Li, 1977)
    • Genus: †Variviverra (Tong & Wang, 2006)
      • †Variviverra vegetatus (Tong & Wang, 2006)
    • Subfamily: †Didymictinae (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
      • Genus: †Bryanictis (MacIntyre, 1966)
        • †Bryanictis microlestes (Simpson, 1935)
        • †Bryanictis paulus (Meehan & Wilson, 2002)
      • Genus: †Didymictis (Cope, 1875)
        • †Didymictis altidens (Cope, 1880)
        • †Didymictis dellensis (Dorr, 1952)
        • †Didymictis leptomylus (Cope, 1880)
        • †Didymictis protenus (Cope, 1874)
        • †Didymictis proteus (Polly, 1997)
        • †Didymictis vancleveae (Robinson, 1966)
      • Genus: †Intyrictis (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
        • †Intyrictis vanvaleni (MacIntyre, 1966)
      • Genus: †Protictis (Matthew, 1937)
        • †Protictis agastor (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
        • †Protictis haydenianus (Cope, 1882)
        • †Protictis minor (Meehan & Wilson, 2002)
        • †Protictis paralus (Holtzman, 1978)
        • †Protictis simpsoni (Meehan & Wilson, 2002)
      • Genus: †Protictoides (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
        • †Protictoides aprophatos (Flynn & Galiano, 1982)
      • Genus: †Raphictis (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
        • †Raphictis gausion (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
        • †Raphictis iota (Scott, 2008)
        • †Raphictis machaera (Rankin, 2009)
        • †Raphictis nanoptexis (Rankin, 2009)
    • Subfamily: †Ictidopappinae (Van Valen, 1969)
      • Genus: †Ictidopappus (Simpson, 1935)
        • †Ictidopappus mustelinus (Simpson, 1935)
    • Subfamily: †Viverravinae (Wortman & Matthew, 1899)
      • Genus: †Pristinictis (Fox & Youzwyshyn, 1994)
        • †Pristinictis connata (Fox & Youzwyshyn, 1994)
      • Genus: †Simpsonictis (MacIntyre, 1962)
        • †Simpsonictis jaynanneae (Rigby, 1980)
        • †Simpsonictis pegus (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
        • †Simpsonictis tenuis (Simpson, 1935)
      • Genus: †Viverravus (Marsh, 1872)
        • †Viverravus acutus (Matthew & Granger, 1915)
        • †Viverravus gracilis (Marsh, 1872)
        • †Viverravus lawsoni (Hooker, 2010)
        • †Viverravus laytoni (Gingerich & Winkler, 1985)
        • †Viverravus lutosus (Gazin, 1952)
        • †Viverravus minutus (Wortman, 1901)
        • †Viverravus politus (Matthew & Granger, 1915)
        • †Viverravus rosei (Polly, 1997)
        • †Viverravus sicarius (Matthew, 1909)
      • Genus: †Viverriscus (Beard & Dawson, 2009)
        • †Viverriscus omnivorus (Beard & Dawson, 2009)

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of Viverravidae are shown in the following cladogram:

Carnivoramorpha

Carnivoraformes  ?  †Carnivoramorpha sp. (UALVP 31176)  ?  †Carnivoramorpha sp. (USNM 538395)  ?  †"Sinopa" insectivorus  †Viverravidae   ?  †Ravenictis  ?  †Carnivoramorpha sp. (UALVP 50993 & UALVP 50994)  †Viverravoidea   †Viverravidae   †Variviverra  †Variviverra vegetatus  †Preonictis  †Preonictis youngi  †Orientictis  †Orientictis spanios  †Pappictidops  †Pappictidops orientalis †Pappictidops acies †Pappictidops obtusus  †Ictidopappinae   †Ictidopappus  †Ictidopappus mustelinus  †Viverravinae   †Simpsonictis  †Simpsonictis pegus †Simpsonictis tenuis †Simpsonictis sp. †Simpsonictis jaynanneae  †Viverriscus  †Viverriscus omnivorus  †Pristinictis  †Pristinictis connata  ?   †Viverravus  †Viverravus gracilis †Viverravus lutosus †Viverravus minutus †Viverravus sicarius †Viverravus politus †Viverravus lawsoni †Viverravus laytoni †Viverravus acutus †Viverravus rosei  ?  †Viverravidae sp. (CM 71188 & CM 71189)  †Didymictinae   †Raphictis  †Raphictis gausion †Raphictis iota †Raphictis machaera †Raphictis nanoptexis †Raphictis sp. (UALVP 51558) †Raphictis sp. (UALVP 8861) †Didymictinae sp. (UALVP 51560)  †Didymictis  †Didymictis leptomylus †Didymictis protenus †Didymictis vancleveae †Didymictis altidens †Didymictis sp. (YPM VPPU 024902)  †Didymictis proteus  †Didymictis proteus (sensu stricto)  ?  †Didymictis dellensis  sensu lato   †Protictis   †Protictis  †Protictis paralus †Protictis agastor †Protictis simpsoni †Protictis minor †Protictis haydenianus  sensu stricto   †Protictoides  †Protictoides aprophatos  †Bryanictis   †Intyrictis  †Intyrictis vanvaleni  †Bryanictis  †Bryanictis microlestes †Bryanictis paulus †Bryanictis sp. (Dawson Creek)  sensu stricto   sensu lato   sensu lato   sensu lato