''Sansanosmilus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

of the family

Barbourofelidae Barbourofelidae (or Barbourofelinae) is an extinct family (biology), family (or subfamily) of carnivorans of the suborder Feliformia, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, that lived in North America, Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene ...

(false saber-tooth cats) endemic to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, which lived during the

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 ...

, 16 to 13 mya, existing for approximately . ''^{Including supplementary materials}''

Taxonomy

Comparison_Sansanosmilus_palmidens_-_Necromanis_franconica

''Sansanosmilus'' is a member of the family

, a group of feliform carnivorans related to either felids or nimravids. It had short legs, was very muscular and had a long tail. ''Sansanosmilus palmidens'' is believed to have been

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

-sized. In 1961, paleontologist L. Ginsburg concluded that ''Sansanosmilus'' was possessed of a plantigrade walking stance, after studying its foot bones and comparing it with those of the true

felid Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the gre ...

Pseudaelurus ''Pseudaelurus'' is a prehistoric cat that lived in Europe, Asia and North America in the Miocene between approximately twenty and eight million years ago. It is considered to be a paraphyletic grade ancestral to living felines and pantherines ...

'' from the same site. This is different from later barbourofelids, which are believed to have had semi-plantigrade or semi-digitigrade stances. The type species, ''Sansanosmilus palmidens'', is known from fossils from the Orleanian and Astaracian stages in France. Although ''

Albanosmilus ''Albanosmilus'' is an extinct genus of the family Barbourofelidae, within the tribe Barbourofelini. The genus currently consists of two named species: ''Albanosmilus jourdani'' and ''Albanosmilus whitfordi''. ''Albanosmilus'' lived in Eurasia a ...

'' was seen as a junior synonym of ''Sansanosmilus'' from the 1970s onwards, Robles ''et al.'' (2013) demonstrated that the type species of ''Albanosmilus'', ''S. jourdani'' (which they considered to be a senior synonym of ''S. vallesiensis''), is more closely related to ''Barbourofelis'' than to the type species of ''Sansanosmilus'' and thus generically distinct. Wang et al. (2020) agreed with Robles et al. (2013) in recovering ''Albanosmilus'' as closer to ''Barbourofelis'' than to ''Sansanosmilus''. A further two species of ''Sansanosmilus'' (''S. rhomboidalis'' and ''S. serratus'') were described by G.E. Pilgrim in 1932 based on fragmentary fossils from the Siwaliks. ''Sansanosmilus rhomboidalis'' was described further, with new material assigned, in 2022.

References

Barbourofelidae Miocene carnivorans Tortonian extinctions Prehistoric mammals of Europe Prehistoric mammals of Asia Serravallian first appearances Fossil taxa described in 1929 Prehistoric carnivoran genera {{paleo-carnivora-stub