''Asiavorator'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

-like

civet A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species diversity ...

endemic to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

in the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

. The teeth of ''Asiavorator'' suggest that the beasts were

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...

or more precisely, ranged from

hypercarnivorous A hypercarnivore is an animal which has a diet that is more than 70% meat, either via active predation or by scavenging. The remaining non-meat diet may consist of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits or other plant material. Some extant exampl ...

to mesocarnivorous.

Taxonomy

''Asiavorator'' was named by Spassov and Lange-Badré (1995). It was assigned to

Aeluroidea Aeluroidea is an extant clade of feline-like carnivores that are, or were, endemic to North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. They appeared during the Oligocene about . Taxonomy Aeluroidea was named by William Henry Flower Sir Willi ...

by Hunt (1998).R. M. Hunt. 1998. Evolution of the aeluroid Carnivora: diversity of the earliest aeluroids from Eurasia (Quercy, Hsanda-Gol) and the origin of felids. ''American Museum Novitates'' 3252:1–65 There is one known species, ''Asiavorator gracilis''.

References

Viverrids Oligocene mammals of Asia Oligocene feliforms Prehistoric carnivoran genera {{paleo-carnivora-stub