''Dinofelis'' is a genus of extinct

sabre-toothed cat 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 unt ...

s belonging to the tribe Metailurini or possibly Smilodontini. They were widespread in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

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 are ...

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 ...

and

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 th ...

at least 5 million to about 1.2 million years ago (Early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

). Fossils very similar to ''Dinofelis'' from

Lothagam Lothagam is a geological formation located in Kenya, near the southwestern shores of Lake Turkana, from Kanapoi. It is located between the Kerio and Lomunyenkuparet Rivers on an uplifted fault block. Lothagam has deposits dating to the Miocene-P ...

range back to the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

, some 8 million years ago.

Description and ecology

In size they were between a modern

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

and a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...

, with most about the size of a

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

(70 cm tall and up to 120 kg), they were medium-sized but powerful cats with a pair of prominent saber teeth. The front limbs were particularly robust compared to modern cats (even the jaguar). Two specimens were examined by Serge Legendre and

Claudia Roth Claudia Benedikta Roth (born 15 May 1955) is a German politician ( Alliance 90/The Greens). She was one of the two party chairs from 2004 to 2013 and previously served as one of the vice presidents of the ''Bundestag''. She is also currently se ...

for

body mass Human body weight is a person's mass or weight. Strictly speaking, body weight is the measurement of weight without items located on the person. Practically though, body weight may be measured with clothes on, but without shoes or heavy accesso ...

. The first specimen was estimated to weigh , the second . The canine teeth of ''Dinofelis'' are longer and more flattened than those of modern

cats 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 o ...

but less than those of true saber-tooths, hence the designation of ''Dinofelis'' and nimravids as "false saber-tooth" cats. (However, Nimravids are not close relatives of ''Dinofelis''.) While the lower canines are robust, the

cheek teeth Cheek teeth or post-canines comprise the molar and premolar teeth in mammals. Cheek teeth are multicuspidate (having many folds or tubercles). Mammals have multicuspidate molars (three in placentals, four in marsupials, in each jaw quadrant) and p ...

are not nearly as robust as those of the

and other modern big cats. Based on ''Dinofelis likely preference of forest habitats, ethologist William Allen ''et al.'' believe it possessed a spotted or striped coat.

Paleobiology

Their stout body may indicate a preference for dense or mixed habitats, although, like the modern

, it may have ranged from forest to open country, including wetlands. Analysis of carbon isotope ratios in specimens from Swartkrans indicates that ''Dinofelis'' preferentially hunted grazing animals. The main predators of hominids in the environment at that time were most likely

leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus ''Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

and fellow machairodont '' Megantereon'', whose carbon isotope ratios showed more indication of preying on hominids. ''Dinofelis'' fossils and bones have been found in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

near those of the

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ...

s that it possibly had killed. Bones from several specimens of ''Dinofelis'' and

s were found in a natural trap, where ''Dinofelis'' may have been lured to feed on trapped prey. Several sites from South Africa seem to show ''Dinofelis'' may have hunted and killed ''

Australopithecus africanus ''Australopithecus africanus'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived between about 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago in the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung, Sterkfontei ...

'', since the finds mingle fossilized remains of ''Dinofelis'', hominids, and other large contemporary animals. In South Africa, ''Dinofelis'' remains have been found near ''

Paranthropus ''Paranthropus'' is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: '' P. robustus'' and '' P. boisei''. However, the validity of ''Paranthropus'' is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be synonymous with ''Austr ...

'' fossil skulls, a few with precisely spaced canine holes in their crania, so it is possible ''Dinofelis'' preyed on robust hominids as well. This may been rare, however, as carbon isotope ratios contradict this. It is thought that the gradual disappearance of its forest environment may have contributed to ''Dinofelis'' extinction at the start of the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. There are indications of other related species.

Taxonomy

A list of species currently accepted in the genus: * ''Dinofelis aronoki'': It lived in the

Villafranchian Villafranchian age ( ) is a period of geologic time (3.5–1.0 Ma) spanning the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. Named by Italian geologist Lorenzo Pareto for a sequence of terrestrial se ...

and Biharian stage in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. Recently split from ''D. barlowi'', it is the largest known species of ''Dinofelis''. * ''Dinofelis barlowi'': It lived from the late Pliocene to the early Pleistocene. Geographically, found in

and

but mainly in

. It was 70 cm high, probably the smallest species of ''Dinofelis''. * ''Dinofelis cristata'': Known from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, this species is especially convergent with the genus ''

Panthera ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae that was named and described by Lorenz Oken in 1816 who placed all the spotted cats in this group. Reginald Innes Pocock revised the classification of this genus in 1916 as comprising the tig ...

'' in its skull and particularly canine morphology, suggesting more pantherine-like hunting behaviour than other machairodonts. (Includes ''D. abeli''.) * ''Dinofelis darti'': It lived in South Africa during the Villafranchian stage. * ''Dinofelis diastemata'': This species is known from the early Pliocene of Europe. * ''Dinofelis paleoonca'' Meade (1945)G. E. Meade. 1945. University of Texas Publication 4401:509–556 Its type locality is Meade's Quarry 11, which is in a Blancan terrestrial horizon in the Blanco Formation of Texas. It was recombined as ''Dinofelis palaeoonca'' by Kurten (1972), Hemmer (1973), Dalquest (1975), Kurten and Anderson (1980), Schultz (1990) and Werdelin and Lewis (2001). * ''Dinofelis petteri'': Known from the Pliocene of East Africa * ''Dinofelis piveteaui'': The latest known species of ''Dinofelis'', lived in South Africa during the early Pleistocene. This species has the most pronounced sabertoothed adaptations of the genus. * ''Dinofelis'' sp. "Langebaanweg" * ''Dinofelis'' sp. "Lothagam"

Footnotes

References

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q133364 Metailurini Pliocene carnivorans Pleistocene carnivorans Pliocene first appearances Pleistocene genus extinctions Pliocene mammals of Asia Pliocene mammals of Europe Pliocene mammals of Africa Pliocene mammals of North America Pleistocene mammals of Asia Pleistocene mammals of Europe Pleistocene mammals of Africa Pleistocene mammals of North America Prehistoric carnivoran genera Fossil taxa described in 1924 Taxa named by Otto Zdansky