Aeluroidea, Ailuroidea, or Feloidea is the name of a taxon (

infraorder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between Family_(biology), family and Class_(biology), class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classific ...

or superfamily) comprising cat-like

Carnivora Carnivora ( ) is an order of placental mammals specialized primarily in eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the sixth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species. Carnivor ...

. More specifically the taxon comprises:Feliformia, Pan-Feliformia. In: R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698H. N. Bryant. 1991. Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of the Nimravidae (Carnivora). Journal of Mammalogy 72(1):56-78 * either cat-like Carnivora in the broader sense, i.e. it is synonymous with

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

(more specifically either Feliformia sensu stricto, i.e. crown Feliformia, or Feliformia sensu lato, i.e. Pan-Feliformia); * or cat-like Carnivora in the narrower sense, i.e. it comprises only the family

Felidae Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the gre ...

(recently also Prionodontidae) and its closest extinct relatives. The Aeluroidea in the first, i.e. broader sense, has been sometimes called infraorder Aeluroida since 1982. The name Feloidea is sometimes used in a third sense—it designates the taxon corresponding to all Feliformia except the family Nandiniidae. In the main system used here, the name Aeluroidea refers to the crown Feliformia (Feliformia sensu stricto) and has the rank of an infraorder, and Feloidea refers to the Felidae, Prionodontidae and their extinct closest relatives and has the rank of a superfamily.

Taxonomy

Aeluroidea was named by

William Henry Flower Sir William Henry Flower (30 November 18311 July 1899) was an English surgeon, museum curator and comparative anatomist, who became a leading authority on mammals and especially on the primate brain. He supported Thomas Henry Huxley in an ...

in 1869 as one of three sections of the fissipedal

, the other two sections being the Cynoidea and the

Arctoidea Arctoidea is an Order (biology), infraorder of mostly Carnivore, carnivorous mammals which include the extinct Hemicyoninae, Hemicyonidae (dog-bears), and the extant Musteloidea (weasels, raccoons, skunks, red pandas), Pinniped, Pinnipedia (seals ...

.FLOWER, W. H. On the Value of the Characters of the Base of the Cranium in the Classification of the Order Carnivora, and on the Systematic Position of Bassaris and other Disputed Forms. Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London. 1869. p. 4 et seqq, specifically p. 22 Since then, it has continued to be assigned to the Carnivora. Within Carnivora it is classified—depending on the author and the definition of the taxon (see above)—either as synonymous with Feliformia or as a part of Feliformia.

Characteristics

Aeluroidea (in the sense of crown Feliformia) comprises species that are, or were, endemic to all continents except

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, with

domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small Domestication, domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have sh ...

s having been introduced to Australia. Crown Feliformia (more specifically the Viverridae) are attested since the early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

, since about ; they are more frequently attested since the early

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

, since about .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4687717 Extant Oligocene first appearances