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Nimravidae ✝

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Hoplophoneus sp.

Nebraska, USA

Hoplophoneus sp.

Nebraska, USA

Hoplophoneus sp.

Nebraska, USA

Description

Nimravidae is an extinct family of mammalian carnivores, 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 closely related and classified as a distinct family in the suborder Feliformia. Fossils have been dated from the Middle Eocene through the Late Miocene epochs (Bartonian through Tortonian stages, 40.4—7.2 million years ago), spanning about 33.2 million years.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimravidae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	3240011	https://www.gbif.org/species/3240011
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	41036	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=41036

Rank

family

Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Nimravidae

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Synapsida	Osborn 1903
-	Therapsida
infraorder	Cynodontia
-	Epicynodontia	Hopson and Kitching 2001
infraorder	Eucynodontia	Kemp 1982
-	Probainognathia	Hopson 1990
-	Mammaliamorpha	Rowe 1988
-	Mammaliaformes	Rowe 1988
class	Mammalia	Linnaeus 1758
subclass	Tribosphenida
infraclass	Eutheria
-	Placentalia	Owen 1837
-	Laurasiatheria	Waddell et al. 1999
-	Scrotifera	Waddell et al. 1999
-	Ferae	Linnaeus 1758
-	Carnivoramorpha	Wyss and Flynn 1993
-	Carnivoraformes	Flynn et al.
order	Carnivora	Bowditch 1821
suborder	Feliformia	Kretzoi 1945
family	Nimravidae	Cope 1880

Common Name

false sabre-tooth

Scientific Name

Nimravidae

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Nimravidae	family	belongs to Fissipedia	stated without evidence	Cope, 1889
Nimravidae	family	belongs to Caniformia	stated with evidence	Flynn and Galiano, 1982
Nimravidae	family	belongs to Aeluroidea	implied	Carroll, 1988
Nimravidae	family	belongs to Feliformia	stated with evidence	Bryant, 1991
Nimravidae	family	belongs to Carnivoramorpha	stated with evidence	Wesley-Hunt and Werdelin, 2005
Nimravidae	family	belongs to Carnivora	stated without evidence	Tseng et al., 2010
Nimravidae	family	belongs to Feliformia	stated with evidence	Tomiya, 2011

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

48.6 - 37.2 Ma
Eocene

Last Recorded Appearance

11.6 - 7.2 Ma
Miocene

Environment

terrestrial (based on Eutheria)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

carnivore

Ecospace Comments

at least three genera belong to the "meat group" (Van Valkenburgh 1988)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

L. D. Martin. 1998. Nimravidae. In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1:228-235

Common Name(s)

False Sabre-tooth

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimravidae

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Nimravinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)	146	48.6 Ma Eocene	11.6 Ma Miocene
Aelurogale ✝ genus	listed (PBDB)
Archaelurus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Barbourofelis ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	22	13.6 Ma Miocene	10.3 Ma Miocene
Dinaelurus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	30.8 Ma Oligocene	30.8 Ma Oligocene
Dinailurictis ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	10	33.9 Ma Oligocene	28.1 Ma Oligocene
Dinictis ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	31	37.2 Ma Eocene	30.8 Ma Oligocene
Eofelis ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	7	37.2 Ma Eocene	33.9 Ma Oligocene
Eusmilus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	17	48.6 Ma Eocene	33.9 Ma Oligocene
Hoplophoneus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	35	37.2 Ma Eocene	30.8 Ma Oligocene
Maofelis ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	37.2 Ma Eocene	37.2 Ma Eocene
Nimravus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	23	37.2 Ma Eocene	28.1 Ma Oligocene
Prosansanosmilus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	8	20.0 Ma Miocene	16.0 Ma Miocene
Quercylurus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	4	33.9 Ma Oligocene	28.1 Ma Oligocene

Obsolete Names

Name	Source	Taxon Rank	Taxonomy
Machaerodus insignis (Filhol, 1876)	GBIF	species	Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Nimravidae : *Machaerodus insignis*
Eusmilus insignis (Filhol, 1876)	GBIF	species	Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Nimravidae : *Eusmilus insignis*

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1876	Machaerodus insignis Filhol
1880	Nimravidae Cope
1889	Nimravidae Cope p. 876
1979	Eusmilus insignis Sigé et al.
1982	Nimravidae Flynn and Galiano p. 50
1988	Nimravidae Carroll
1991	Nimravidae Bryant p. 68
2005	Nimravidae Wesley-Hunt and Werdelin p. 842
2010	Nimravidae Tseng et al.
2011	Nimravidae Tomiya p. 17

References

Martin L. D. (1998) Nimravidae, Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1, 228-235

Cope E. D. Synopsis of the families of Vertebrata, The American Naturalist 23, 1-29

Flynn J. J., Galiano H. (1982) Phylogeny of early Tertiary Carnivora, with a description of a new species of Protictis from the middle Eocene of northwestern Wyoming, American Museum Novitates 2725, 1-64

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Bryant H. N. (1991) Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of the Nimravidae (Carnivora), Journal of Mammalogy 72 1, 56-78

Wesley-Hunt G. D., Werdelin L. (2005) Basicranial morphology and phylogenetic position of the upper Eocene carnivoramorphan Quercygale, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 50 4, 837-846

Tseng Z. J., Takeuchi G. T., et al (2010) Discovery of the upper dentition of Barbourofelis whitfordi (Nimravidae, Carnivora) and an evaluation of the genus in California, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 1, 244-254 doi:10.1080/02724630903416001

Tomiya S. (2011) A new basal caniform (Mammalia: Carnivora) from the middle Eocene of North America and remarks on the phylogeny of early carnivorans, PLoS ONE 6 9, e24146 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024146

Benton, M.J. (ed). (1993). The Fossil Record 2. Chapman & Hall, London, 845 pp. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000: Brands, S. J. (compiler) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006 version). Available online at http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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