Paramachaerodus
Paramachaerodus is an extinct genus of saber-tooth cat of the subfamily Machairodontinae, which was endemic to Europe and Asia during the Middle and Late Miocene from 15 to 9 Ma. A 2022 phylogenetic analysis suggested that the genus may be polyphyletic.
Paramachaerodus Temporal range: | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Suborder: | Feliformia |
Family: | Felidae |
Subfamily: | †Machairodontinae |
Tribe: | †Smilodontini |
Genus: | †Paramachaerodus Pilgrim, 1913 |
Type species | |
Paramachaerodus orientalis (Kittl, 1887) sensu Pilgrim, 1913 | |
Other species | |
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Synonyms | |
Paramachaerodus
synonyms of P. orientalis
synonyms of P. maximiliani
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Paramacherodus is one of the earliest known true saber-toothed cats. Many fossils were discovered in Cerro de los Batallones, a Late Miocene fossil site near Madrid, Spain. One leopard-sized species is known, Paramachaerodus orientalis from the Turolian. A second species, Paramacharodus maximiliani, has been considered a synonym of Paramachaerodus orientalis by some authors, but was considered a valid species in the most recent systematic revision. That revision, based on an extensive morphological analysis, also determined that the species P. ogygia exhibited less derived sabertooth features than the other Paramachaerodus species and should be assigned to a separate genus, Promegantereon.