| Dinaelurus Temporal range: Late Eocene–Late Oligocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | †Nimravidae |
| Subfamily: | †Nimravinae |
| Genus: | †Dinaelurus Eaton, 1922 |
| Species: | †D. crassus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Dinaelurus crassus Eaton, 1922 | |
Dinaelurus is a genus of the Nimravidae, an extinct family of feliform mammalian carnivores, also known as "false saber-toothed cats". Assigned to the subfamily Nimravinae, Dinaelurus was endemic to North America during the Oligocene epoch (30.8—20.6 mya), existing for approximately 10.2 million years.
Taxonomy
Dinaelurus was named by George Francis Eaton in 1922, with a single species, Dinaelurus crassus. It was assigned to Nimravinae by Flynn and Galiano in 1982. One specimen was found in the John Day Formation in Oregon.
Description
Dinaelurus had a skull extremely broad for its length and had conical teeth; it exhibited little or no development of sabertooth features and had more rounded cheek teeth with no serrated ridges. It had a relatively gracile skeleton and may have had digitigrade feet. It is believed that Dinaelurus was a cursorial predator that ran down its prey. This is suggested by the nimravid's short face and large nostrils, similar to those of a cheetah, which is also a cursorial predator.
Sources
- PaleoBiology Database: Dinaelurus, basic info
- Flynn, John J. and Henry Galiano. 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.
- Martin, Larry D. 1998. "Nimravidae." In Christine M. Janis, Kathleen M. Scott, Louis L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 2 volumes (1998-2008).
- ^ Bryant, Harold N. (1996). "Nimravidae". In Donald R. Prothero and Robert J. Emry (ed.). The Terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene Transition in North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 468. ISBN 0521433878.
- ^ Martin 1998, p. 228.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080620030107/http://home.earthlink.net/~ratha13/id5.html
- https://archive.today/20130201060334/http://www.rathascourage.com/research.html
| Nimravidae | ||
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| Incertae sedis | .jpg) | |
| Nimravini | ||
| Hoplophoneini | ||
| Taxon identifiers | |
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| Dinaelurus | |
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