Barbourofelidae is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

carnivora Carnivora is a Clade, monophyletic order of Placentalia, placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all felidae, cat-like and canidae, dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are f ...

ns of the suborder

Feliformia Feliformia is a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of "cat-like" carnivorans, including cats (large and small), hyenas, mongooses, viverrids, and related taxa. Feliformia stands in contrast to the other suborder of Carnivora, Caniform ...

, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, that lived in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

during the

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 recen ...

epoch (16.9—9.0 million years ago) and existed for about .

Taxonomy

The type genus, ''Barbourofelis'', was originally described by Schultz et al. (1970) and assigned to a new tribe, Barbourofelini, within the felid subfamily

Machairodontinae Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until ...

, along with the other sabre-toothed cats. Subsequently, the tribe was reassigned to the

Nimravidae Nimravidae is an extinct family (biology), family of carnivorans, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, whose fossils are found in North America and Eurasia. Not considered to belong to the true cats (family Felidae), the nimravids are gen ...

by Tedford (1978) and raised to a subfamily by Bryant (1991). However, a number of studies in the early 2000s identified a closer affinity of the barbourofelines to the

Felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the ...

than to the Nimravidae and they were reranked as a distinct family by Morlo et al. (2004). Since then the prevailing view has the barbourofelids as the sister group to the

, although this has recently been challenged, following the description of the middle Miocene genus '' Oriensmilus'' from northern China, which provided evidence, mainly based on basicranial morphology, that barbourofelids may be more closely related to nimravids than to felids. Barbourofelids first appear in the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

record in the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was prece ...

. By the end of the Early Miocene, a

land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and Colonisation (biology), colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regre ...

had opened between Africa and

, allowing for a

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

l exchange between the two continents. Barbourofelids migrated at least three times from Africa to Europe. While the

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 ...

Sansanosmilus ''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'' ...

'' evolved in Europe, barbourofelids also migrated through Eurasia and reached

by the late

, represented there solely by the

Barbourofelis ''Barbourofelis'' is an extinct genus of large, predatory, feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Barbourofelidae (false saber-tooth cats). The genus was endemic to North America and Eurasia during the Miocene until its extinction during t ...

''.

Classification

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of Barbourofelidae are shown in the following cladogram:Josep M. Robles , David M. Alba , Josep Fortuny , Soledad De Esteban-Trivigno , Cheyenn Rotgers , Jordi Balaguer , Raül Carmona , Jordi Galindo , Sergio Almécija , Juan V. Bertó & Salvador Moyà-Solà , Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (2013): New craniodental remains of the barbourofelid Albanosmilus jourdani (Filhol, ) from the Miocene of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula) and the phylogeny of the Barbourofelini, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, DOI:10.1080/14772019.2012.724090

References

Miocene carnivorans Prehistoric mammal families Miocene first appearances {{paleo-carnivora-stub