''Nimravides'' is a genus of extinct 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 ...

during the Late

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 ...

, between 10.3 and 5.332 Ma. Despite its scientific name, ''Nimravides'' does not belong 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 ...

, but is a true cat, belonging to the family

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 ...

. ''Nimravides catacopsis'', one of the largest and latest species, was quite large, measuring at the shoulder and was similar in size to a large

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

. It was also possessed of long, powerful legs and a long back. For many decades, it was also believed to be a member of the genus '' Machairodus'', but, despite the similarities between them at first glance, based on autapomorphies in the skeleton, the two animals are too different to be classified as species of the same genus, and thus, ''Nimravides'' remains separate as its own genus within the Homotherini. Evidence published in November, 2022 suggests ''Nimravides'' was endemic to North America and that when the ''Machairodus''-''

Amphimachairodus ''Amphimachairodus'' is an extinct genus of large machairodonts. It is also a member of the tribe Homotherini within Machairodontinae and is most closely related to such species as ''Xenosmilus'', ''Homotherium'' itself, and ''Nimravides''. It in ...

'' lineage emigrated to North America from Eurasia, differing aspects of their cranial anatomy allowed the newly arrived machairodont genera to survive a faunal change occurring during the earl-late Hemphilian stage of the

Epoch some 6.5 million years ago. The analysis also determined that the ''Machairodus''-''Amphimachairodus'' lineage did not have a competitive edge over Nimravides, implying that neither newcomer or endemic species were superior to one another in regards to hunting adaptations.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222019095

References

External links

''Nimravides galiani''''Nimravides hibbardi''
Homotherini Miocene carnivorans Prehistoric carnivoran genera Miocene mammals of North America {{felidae-stub