''Parahyaena'' is a

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 ...

hyena Hyenas or hyaenas ( ; from Ancient Greek , ) are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae (). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the sma ...

s that contains the extant

brown hyena The brown hyena (''Parahyaena brunnea''), also called the strandwolf, is a species of hyena found in Namibia, Botswana, western and southern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and South Africa. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Parahyaena' ...

(''Parahyaena brunnea''). ''Parahyaena howelli'', an early member of this genus, has been dated to approximately 4 million years ago.

Taxonomy

Pérez-Claros (2024) argued that ''Parahyaena'' and ''

Pachycrocuta ''Pachycrocuta'' is an extinct genus of hyena. The largest and most well-researched species is ''Pachycrocuta brevirostris'', colloquially known as the giant short-faced hyena as it stood about at the shoulder and it is estimated to have average ...

'' were

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

, and that ''

Pliocrocuta ''Pliocrocuta'' is an extinct genus of hyena. It contains the species ''Pliocrocuta perrieri'', known from the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of Eurasia and possibly Africa. It is possibly ancestral to ''Pachycrocuta,'' with some authors includin ...

perrieri'' and "''

Hyaena The striped hyena (''Hyaena hyaena'') is a species of hyena native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Hyaena''. It is listed by the IUC ...

''" ''prisca'' should be included under ''Pachycrocuta''. A later study by Martínez-Navarro et al. (2025) regarded ''Parahyaena'' and ''Pliocrocuta'' as distinct from ''Pachycrocuta''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3363458 Mammal genera with one living species Carnivoran genera Hyenas Fossil taxa described in 1974