Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Orthokaryota
Cladus: Neokaryota
Cladus: Scotokaryota
Cladus: Podiata
Cladus: Amorphea
Cladus: Obazoa
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: ParaHoxozoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Olfactores
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Vertebrata
Cladus: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Synapsida
Cladus: Eupelycosauria
Cladus: Metopophora
Cladus: Haptodontiformes
Cladus: Sphenacomorpha
Cladus: Sphenacodontia
Cladus: Pantherapsida
Cladus: Sphenacodontoidea
Cladus: Therapsida
Cladus: Theriodontia
Cladus: Eutheriodontia
Cladus: Cynodontia
Cladus: Epicynodontia
Cladus: Eucynodontia
Cladus: Probainognathia
Cladus: Prozostrodontia
Cladus: Mammaliamorpha
Cladus: Mammaliaformes
Classis Mammalia
Cladus: Theriimorpha
Cladus: Theriiformes
Cladus: Trechnotheria
Cladus: Cladotheria
Cladus: Prototribosphenida
Cladus: Zatheria
Cladus: Tribosphenida
Subclassis: Theria
Cladus: Eutheria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Magnordo: Boreoeutheria
Superordo: Laurasiatheria
Cladus: Scrotifera
Grandordo: Ferungulata
Mirordo: Ferae
Cladus: Pan-Carnivora
Cladus: Carnivoramorpha
Cladus: Carnivoraformes
Ordo: Carnivora
Subordo: Feliformia
Infraordo: Aeluroidea
Superfamilia: Feloidea
Familia: Felidae
Subfamilia: †Machairodontinae
Tribus: †Metailurini
Genera: †Dinofelis - †Metailurus - †Adelphailurus - †Stenailurus - †Pontosmilus
Metailurini is an extinct taxonomic tribe of large saber-toothed cats that lived in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America from the Miocene to the Pleistocene.[1]
The best known Metalurini genera are Dinofelis and Metailurus. Metailurini had canines longer than Neofelis, but smaller than true saber toothed cats. The teeth were also more conical than flat, so called "scimitar-toothed", having broad and mildly elongated upper canines. Like most extinct cats, the majority of species in Metailurini are known primarily from fragments. However, the systematic position and taxonomy of these creatures is now accepted as being true members of Felidae and descended from Proailurus and Pseudaelurus.[2] Within Felidae, they had been traditionally considered to belong in Machairodontinae, albeit some have in the past proposed a relationship to Pantherinae,[3][4] all phylogenetic analyses support the former classification but the monophyly of the taxon itself might not be supported.[4][5][6]
History
Metailurini was first named as a tribe by Beaumont in 1964 for the genera Metailurus, Therailurus, and tentatively Dinofelis. Stenailurus was described in 1972 and assigned to the group, which the authors elevated to a subfamily Metailurinae. In a 1983 review of machairodontine classification, Berta & Galiano added Adelphailurus and Pontosmilus to the tribe, though subsequent papers consider Pontosmilus a junior synonym of the machairodontin Paramachaerodus, and Therailurus a junior synonym of Dinofelis. A further genus was added in 1987 with the description of Fortunictis.[7]
The most recent addition was the genus Yoshi in 2014.[8]
Classification
Tribe
| Genus | Species | Image |
|---|---|---|
| †Adelphailurus Hibbard, 1934 |
|
|
| †Dinofelis Zdansky, 1924 |
|
|
| †Metailurus Zdansky, 1924 |
|
 |
| †Stenailurus Crusafont-Pairo & Aguirre, 1972 |
|
|
| †Fortunictis Pons-Moyà 1987 |
|
 |
| †Yoshi Spassov and Geraads, 2014 |
|
References
PaleoBiology Database: Metailurini, basic info
Wesley-Hunt, Gina D.; Flynn, John J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the Carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of ‘Miacoidea’ relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 3: 1–28. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518
Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende, Michael Morlo, Doris Nagel: Fossils explained 52 Majestic killers: the sabre-toothed cats. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Geology Today, Vol. 22, No. 4, July–August 2006 online
Christiansen, Per (2013). "Phylogeny of the sabertoothed felids (Carnivora: Felidae: Machairodontinae)". Cladistics. 29 (5): 543–559. doi:10.1111/cla.12008. PMID 34814379. S2CID 85111366.
Salesa, M.; et al. (2012). "A rich community of Felidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the late Miocene (Turolian, MN 13) site of Las Casiones (Villalba Baja, Teruel, Spain)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 658–676. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.649816. S2CID 129246524.
Meloro, C. & Slater, G.J. (2012). "Covariation in the skull modules of cats: the challenge of growing saber-like canines". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 677–685. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.649328. S2CID 55862923.
Pons-Moyà, Joan (1987). "Fortunictis nov. gen. acerensis nov. sp. nuevo Metailurini (Mammalia, Carnivora) del Mioceno superior de la Península Ibérica" [Fortunictis nov. gen. acerensis nov. sp. new Metailurini (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the Upper Miocene of the Iberian Peninsula.]. Paleontologia i evolució (in Spanish) (21): 63–68. S2CID 133680588.
Spassov, Nikolai; Geraads, Denis (2014). "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: 45–56. doi:10.1007/s10914-014-9266-5. S2CID 14261386.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
