''Dinaelurus'' is a
genus of the
Nimravidae, an extinct
family of
feliform mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
ian
carnivores, also known as "false
saber-toothed cats". Assigned to
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
Nimravinae, ''Dinaelurus'' was endemic to
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
Eocene-
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
epochs (30.8—20.6
mya
Mya may refer to:
Brands and product names
* Mya (program), an intelligent personal assistant created by Motorola
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* Midwest Young Artists, a comprehensive youth music program
Codes
* Burmese ...
), existing for approximately .
Taxonomy
''Dinaelurus'' was named by George Francis Eaton (1922). Its type is ''Dinaelurus crassus''. It was assigned to ''Nimravinae'' by Flynn and Galiano (1982) and Bryant (1991); and to ''Nimravidae'' by Eaton (1922) and Larry D. Martin (1998).
[Martin, Larry D. 1998. "Nimravidae." In Christine M. Janis, Kathleen M. Scott, Louis L. Jacobs (eds.), ''Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America''. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 2 volumes (1998-2008).]
Fossil distribution
One specimen was found in the
John Day Formation in Oregon and was described by Eaton in 1922.
Description
''Dinaelurus'' had a skull extremely broad for its length and had conical teeth; it could exhibit little or no development of sabertooth features and had more rounded cheek teeth with no serrated ridges. It had a relatively gracile skeleton.
Martin hypothesizes that it had
digitigrade
In terrestrial vertebrates, digitigrade () locomotion is walking or running on the toes (from the Latin ''digitus'', 'finger', and ''gradior'', 'walk'). A digitigrade animal is one that stands or walks with its toes (metatarsals) touching the groun ...
feet.
[Martin 1998, p. 228.]
Behavior
It is believed that ''Dinaelurus'' was a
cursorial predator, meaning it ran down its prey. This is suggested by the nimravid's short face
and large nostrils, similar to those of a cheetah, which is also a cursorial predator, as Martin suggests.
Sources
* https://web.archive.org/web/20080620030107/http://home.earthlink.net/~ratha13/id5.html
* https://archive.today/20130201060334/http://www.rathascourage.com/research.html
Nimravidae
Oligocene feliforms
Aquitanian genus extinctions
Oligocene mammals of North America
Prehistoric carnivoran genera
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