''Stenoplesictis'' 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 n ...

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 food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

-like mammals belonging to the superfamily

Aeluroidea Aeluroidea is an extant Taxonomic rank, clade of cat, feline-like carnivores that are, or were, endemic to North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. They appeared during the Oligocene about . Taxonomy Aeluroidea was named by William Henry ...

, from

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 enti ...

(Quercy,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

) and Asia (

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

) (''S. indigenus''), from the

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 ...

33.9—28.4 Ma, existing for about . ''Stenoplesictis'' is shown to have an

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

diet or more precisely, hypercarnivorous to mesocarnivorous.

Taxonomy

''Stenoplesictis'' was named by Filhol (1880). It was assigned to the

by Hunt (1989) and Hunt (1998); to the

Viverridae Viverridae is a family of small to medium-sized, feliform mammals. The viverrids () comprise 33 species placed in 14 genera. This family was named and first described by John Edward Gray in 1821. Viverrids occur all over Africa, southern Europe ...

by Flynn (1998); and reassigned to the

Stenoplesictidae Stenoplesictidae is the name of a polyphyletic family of extinct civet-like feliforms. Taxonomy Classification Phylogenetic tree The cladogram shown below represents the current phylogenetic relationships of members of family Stenoplesictid ...

by Morlo et al. (2007).J. J. Flynn. 1998. Early Cenozoic Carnivora ("Miacoidea"). In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1:110-123

References

{{paleo-carnivora-stub Oligocene carnivorans Prehistoric mammals of Europe Prehistoric carnivoran genera Feliforms