Sansanosmilus Palmidens (skull)
''Sansanosmilus'' is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal of the family Barbourofelidae (false saber-tooth cats) endemic to Europe, which lived during the Miocene, 13.6—11.1 mya, existing for approximately . Taxonomy ''Sansanosmilus'' is a member of the family Barbourofelidae, a group of feliform carnivorans related to either felids or nimravids. It had short legs, was very muscular and had a long tail. ''Sansanosmilus'' was 1.5 m long and probably weighed around 80 kg. In 1961, paleontologist L. Ginsburg concluded that ''Sansanosmilus'' was possessed of a plantigrade walking stance, after studying its foot bones and comparing it with those of the true felid ''Pseudaelurus'' from the same site. This is different from later barbourofelids, which are believed to have had semi-plantigrade or semi-digitigrade stances. The type species, ''Sansanosmilus palmidens'', is known from fossils from the Orleanian and Astaracian stages in France. Although ''Albanosmilus ''Albanos ...
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Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the ...
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