Percrocutidae
Percrocutidae is an extinct family of hyena-like feliform carnivores endemic to Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe from the Middle Miocene through the Pliocene, existing for about 8 million years.
| Percrocutidae Temporal range: Middle Miocene to Late Pliocene | |
|---|---|
| Dinocrocuta gigantea skull cast, Zoological Museum in Copenhagen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Superfamily: | Herpestoidea |
| Family: | †Percrocutidae Werdelin & Solounias, 1991 |
| Genera | |
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The first percrocutids are known from the middle Miocene of Europe and western Asia and belonged to the genus Percrocuta. Percrocuta already had large premolars, but did not carry such a massive bite as the later form Dinocrocuta, from the later Miocene. Originally, these carnivores were placed with the hyenas in the family Hyaenidae. As of 2013, most scientists considered the Percrocutidae to be a distinct family - although usually as sister-taxa/immediate outgroup to Hyaenidae. Sometimes it was placed with the family Stenoplesictidae into the superfamily Stenoplesictoidea. However, studies in the 2020s placed Dinocrocuta and Percrocuta as true hyaenids, invalidating the family Percrocutidae.