Barbourofelidae

Barbourofelidae
	Barbourofelis loveorum
Temporal occurrence
	Miocene to Pliocene
	20.43 to 4.9 million years
Locations
	North America; Eurasia; Africa;
Systematics
	Mammals (mammalia)
	Higher mammals (Eutheria)
	Laurasiatheria
	Predators (Carnivora)
	Feline (Feliformia)
	Barbourofelidae
Scientific name
	Barbourofelidae
	Schultz , Schultz & Martin , 1970

The family of barbourofelidae is an extinct line of feline predators. They originated in the early Miocene and survived with their last genus Barbourofelis until the late Miocene. They were originally considered a subfamily of the Nimravidae , but are now considered a family of their own. The main reason for this is the large time lag of 25 million years between the appearance of the first primitive Nimravids in the middle Eocene and the first appearance of primitive Barbourofelids in the lower Miocene.

The Barbourofelidae apparently have their origin in Africa, where the oldest genera Afrosmilus , Syrtosmilus and Ginsburgsmilus appear in the lower Miocene. The late genera, with their extremely elongated upper canines, are particularly reminiscent of the saber-toothed cats (Machairodontinae), to which they are only distantly related.

Genera

The following genera are known, the most developed is Barbourofelis , which had particularly long upper canines. One of the more primitive forms is Prosansanosmilus .

Prosansanosmilus : Eurasia; early to middle Miocene
Sansanosmilus : Eurasia; middle to late Miocene
Syrtosmilus : Only one specimen known from North Africa; Early Miocene
Ginsburgsmilus : Africa; early Miocene
Afrosmilus : Africa, Europe; early to middle Miocene
Vampyrictis : North Africa; late Miocene
Barbourofelis : North America, Asia (Turkey); until the latest Miocene

literature

Lars W. van den Hoek Ostend, Michael Morlo, Doris Nagel: Fossils explained 52 Majestic killers: the saber-toothed cats. In: Geology Today. Vol. 22, No. 4, July-August 2006, ISSN 0266-6979 , pp. 150-157.
Alan Turner: The big cats and their fossil relatives. Columbia University Press, New York NY 1997, ISBN 0-231-10229-1 .

Individual evidence

↑ Michael Morlo, Stéphane Peigné, Doris Nagel: A new species of Prosansanosmilus : Complications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank . Zoo. J. of the Linn. Society, 2004, 140, 43-61.
↑ Stéphane Peigné: Systematic review of European Nimravinae (Mammalia, Carnivora, Nimravidae) and the phylogenetic relationships of Palaeogene Nimravidae. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Zoologica Scripta, 32, 3, May 2003, pp. 199-229.

[1] Michael Morlo, Stéphane Peigné, Doris Nagel: A new species of Prosansanosmilus : Complications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank . Zoo. J. of the Linn. Society, 2004, 140, 43-61.

[2] Stéphane Peigné: Systematic review of European Nimravinae (Mammalia, Carnivora, Nimravidae) and the phylogenetic relationships of Palaeogene Nimravidae. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Zoologica Scripta, 32, 3, May 2003, pp. 199-229.