''Paramachaerodus'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of saber-tooth cat of the subfamily Machairodontinae, which was endemic to

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and

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 ...

during the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), 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 mea ...

from 15 to 9 Ma. ''Paramacheirodus'' is one of the oldest known true

saber-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 ...

s. Many

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 ...

s were discovered in

Cerro de los Batallones Cerro de los Batallones (''Hill of the Battalions'') is a hill at Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid, Spain where a number of fossil sites from the Upper Miocene ( MN10) have been found. Nine sites have been discovered with predominantly vertebrate fo ...

, a Late Miocene fossil site near

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. One leopard-sized species is known, ''Paramachaerodus orientalis'' from the Turolian. A second species, ''Paramachairodus maximiliani'', has been considered a synonym of ''Paramachaerodus orientalis'' by some authors, but was considered a valid species in the most recent systematic revision. That revision, based on an extensive morphological analysis, also determined that the species ''P. ogygia'' exhibited less derived sabertooth features than the other ''Paramachairodus'' species and should be assigned to a separate genus, '' Promegantereon''. A third species, ''Paramachairodus transasiaticus'', has recently been described based on analysis of new fossil material from the late Miocene localities of Hezheng, Gansu Province, China, and Hadjidimovo, Bulgaria. These specimens had sabertooth characteristics intermediate between those of ''P. ogygia'' and those of ''P. orientalis'' and ''P. maximiliani''. The animals were about high at the shoulder, similar to a leopard, but with a more supple body. The shape of its limbs suggests that it may have been an agile climber, and could have hunted relatively large prey. In 2022, a new species ''Paramachaerodus yingliangi'' was proposed based on fossils from northeastern China; the same paper also proposed separating ''Paramachaerodus schlosseri'' as the new type species and moving ''P. orientalis'' and ''P. maximiliani'' to the resurrected genus ''Pontosmilus''.

References

External links

Paramachairodus at the bluelion.org
Smilodontini Miocene felids Prehistoric carnivoran genera Fossil taxa described in 1913 {{feline-stub