''Eofelis'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of small

nimravid Nimravidae is an extinct 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 generally considered ...

(false saber-toothed cats). They were catlike creatures that evolved in parallel with true cats but are not a part of the true cat lineage and have left no living descendants. The genus was first described in 1938 by Miklos Kretzoi. Fossils have been found in the

phosphorites Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock that contains high amounts of phosphate minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite (or grade of phosphate rock) varies greatly, from 4% to 20% phosphorus pentoxi ...

Quercy Quercy (; , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and Auverg ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It was recently determined that there were two distinct species of ''Eofelis'' from old collections, ''E. edwardsii'' being the most abundant. ''E. giganteus'' was very large, almost twice the size of ''E. edwardsii''.

References

External links

Extinct CarnivoreNew Eofelis SpeciesTaxonomic Data
Nimravidae Oligocene feliforms Oligocene mammals of Europe Paleogene France Fossils of France Quercy Phosphorites Formation Prehistoric carnivoran genera Fossil taxa described in 1938 {{paleo-carnivora-stub