Hyainailourinae

Hyainailourinae Temporal range: Middle Eocene to Late Miocene 47.8–11.3  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Megistotherium osteothlastes life restoration
Pterodon dasyuroides cranium and mandible
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	† Hyaenodonta
Superfamily:	† Hyainailouroidea
Family:	† Hyainailouridae
Subfamily:	† Hyainailourinae Pilgrim, 1932 [1]
Type genus
† Hyainailouros (polyphyletic genus) Biedermann, 1863
Genera
[see classification]
Synonyms
Hyaenaelurinae (Pilgrim, 1932) Hyaninailourinae (Peigné, 2007) [2] Hyaninailourini (Ginsburg, 1980) [3] Pterodontinae (Polly, 1996) [4]

Hyainailourinae ("hyena-like cats") is a paraphyletic subfamily of hyaenodonts from extinct paraphyletic family Hyainailouridae. They arose during the Middle Eocene in Africa, and persisted well into the Late Miocene. Fossils of this group have been found in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]}

General characteristics

Hyainailourins are characterized by long skulls, slender jaws, slim bodies, and a plantigrade stance. They generally ranged in size from 30 to 140 cm at the shoulder. While some measured as much as 1.4 m high at the shoulder with head-body length up to 3.2 m and weighed up to 500 kg, ^[11] most were in the 5–15 kg range, equivalent to a mid-sized dog. The anatomy of their skulls show that they had a particularly acute sense of smell, while their teeth were adapted for shearing, rather than crushing.

Classification and phylogeny

Taxonomy

Subfamily: †Hyainailourinae(paraphyletic subfamily)(Pilgrim, 1932) Genus: † Ekweeconfractus (Savage, 1973) †Ekweeconfractus amorui(Flink, 2021) Genus: † Leakitherium (Savage, 1965) †Leakitherium hiwegi(Savage, 1965) Genus: † Megistotherium (Savage, 1973) †Megistotherium osteothlastes(Savage, 1973) Genus: † Mlanyama (Rasmussen & Gutierrez, 2009) †Mlanyama sugu(Rasmussen & Gutierrez, 2009) Genus: † Pakakali (Borths & Stevens, 2017) †Pakakali rukwaensis(Borths & Stevens, 2017) Genus: † Simbakubwa (Borths & Stevens, 2019) †Simbakubwa kutokaafrika(Borths & Stevens, 2019) Genus: † Thereutherium (Filhol, 1876) †Thereutherium thylacodes(Filhol, 1876) (unranked): †Akhnatenavus clade Genus: † Akhnatenavus (Holroyd, 1999) †Akhnatenavus leptognathus(Osborn, 1909) †Akhnatenavus nefertiticyon(Borths, 2016) Genus: † Hemipsalodon (Cope, 1885) †Hemipsalodon grandis(Cope, 1885) †Hemipsalodon viejaensis(Gustafson, 1986) Genus: † Ischnognathus (Stovall, 1948) †Ischnognathus savagei(Stovall, 1948) (unranked): †Maocyon/Orienspterodon clade Genus: † Maocyon (Averianov, 2023) †Maocyon peregrinus(Averianov, 2023) Genus: † Orienspterodon (Egi, 2007) †Orienspterodon dahkoensis(Chow, 1975) †Orienspterodon mianchiensis(Sheng, Bi & Li, 2024) Tribe: †Hyainailourini(polyphyletic tribe)(Ginsburg, 1980) Genus: † Bastetodon (Al-Ashqar, 2025) †Bastetodon syrtos(Holroyd, 1999) Genus: † Exiguodon (Morales & Pickford, 2017) †Exiguodon pilgrimi(Savage, 1965) Genus: † Falcatodon (Morales & Pickford, 2017) †Falcatodon schlosseri(Holroyd, 1999) Genus: † Hyainailouros (polyphyletic genus)(Biedermann, 1863) †Hyainailouros bugtiensis(Pilgrim, 1912) †Hyainailouros napakensis(Ginsburg, 1980) †Hyainailouros sulzeri(Biedermann, 1863) Genus: † Isohyaenodon (polyphyletic genus)(Savage, 1965) †Isohyaenodon andrewsi(Savage, 1965) †Isohyaenodon zadoki(Savage, 1965) Genus: † Parapterodon (Lange-Badré, 1979) †Parapterodon lostangensis(Lange-Badré, 1979) Genus: † Sectisodon (Morales & Pickford, 2017) †Sectisodon markgrafi(Holroyd, 1999) †Sectisodon occultus(Morales & Pickford, 2017) Genus: † Sekhmetops (Al-Ashqar, 2025) †Sekhmetops africanus(Andrews, 1903) †Sekhmetops phiomensis(Osborn, 1909) Genus: † Sivapterodon (Ginsburg, 1980) †Sivapterodon lahirii(Pilgrim, 1932) (unranked): †Pterodon clade Genus: † Kerberos (Solé, 2015) †Kerberos langebadreae(Solé, 2015) Genus: † Pterodon (Blainville, 1839) †Pterodon dasyuroides(Blainville, 1839) Incertae sedis : †"Pterodon" sp. [DPC 5036] (Holroyd, 1999) Tribe: † Metapterodontini (Morales & Pickford, 2017) Genus: † Metapterodon (Stromer, 1926) †Metapterodon brachycephalus(Osborn, 1909) †Metapterodon kaiseri(Stromer, 1926) †Metapterodon stromeri(Morales, 1998) Tribe: † Paroxyaenini (Lavrov, 2007) Genus: † Paroxyaena (Martin, 1906) †Paroxyaena galliae(Filhol, 1881) †Paroxyaena pavlovi(Lavrov, 2007) Incertae sedis : †"Pterodon" sp. [BC 15’08] (Pickford, 2008) †Hyainailourinae sp. [GSN AD 100’96] (Morales, 1998) †Hyainailourinae sp. [UON 84-359] (Solé, 2016) †Hyainailourinae sp. A [DPC 6555] (Holroyd, 1999) †Hyainailourinae sp. C [DPC 9243 & DPC 10315] (Holroyd, 1999) †Hyainailourinae sp. D [DPC 6545] (Holroyd, 1999)

References

1. Pilgrim G. E. (1932). "The fossil Carnivora of India. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India" . Palaeontologica Indica. 18 (1–232). doi:10.1017/S0016756800096448. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023.
2. S. Peigné, M. Morlo, Y. Chaimanee, S. Ducrocq, S. T. Tun and J. J. Jaeger (2007). "New discoveries of hyaenodontids (Creodonta, Mammalia) from the Pondaung Formation, middle Eocene, Myanmar—paleobiogeographic implications". Geodiversitas. 29: 441–458.
3. Ginsburg, L. (1980). "Hyainailouros sulzeri, mammifère créodonte du Miocène européen". Annales de Paléontologie. 66: 19–73.
4. P. D. Poll (1996). "The skeleton of Gazinocyon vulpeculus gen. et. comb nov. and the cladistic relationships of Hyaenodontidae (Eutheria, Mammalia)" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 16 (2): 303–31. Bibcode:1996JVPal..16..303P. doi:10.1080/02724634.1996.10011318. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 25, 2023.
5. Solé, F.; Lhuillier, J.; Adaci, M.; Bensalah, M.; Mahboubi, M.; Tabuce, R. (2013). "The hyaenodontidans from the Gour Lazib area (?Early Eocene, Algeria): implications concerning the systematics and the origin of the Hyainailourinae and Teratodontinae". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 12 (3): 303–322. doi:10.1080/14772019.2013.795196. S2CID   84475034.
6. Floréal Solé; Eli Amson; Matthew Borths; Dominique Vidalenc; Michael Morlo; Katharina Bastl (2015). "A New Large Hyainailourine from the Bartonian of Europe and Its Bearings on the Evolution and Ecology of Massive Hyaenodonts (Mammalia)". PLOS ONE. 10 (9): e0135698. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1035698S. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135698 . PMC   4580617 . PMID   26398622.
7. Matthew R. Borths; Patricia A. Holroyd; Erik R. Seiffert (2016). "Hyainailourine and teratodontine cranial material from the late Eocene of Egypt and the application of parsimony and Bayesian methods to the phylogeny and biogeography of Hyaenodonta (Placentalia, Mammalia)". PeerJ. 4: e2639. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2639 . PMC   5111901 . PMID   27867761.
8. Matthew R. Borths; Nancy J. Stevens (2017). "The first hyaenodont from the late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation of Tanzania: Paleoecological insights into the Paleogene-Neogene carnivore transition". PLOS ONE. 12 (10): e0185301. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1285301B. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185301 . PMC   5636082 . PMID   29020030.
9. Jorge Morales; Martin Pickford (2017). "New hyaenodonts (Ferae, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of Napak (Uganda), Koru (Kenya) and Grillental (Namibia)" (PDF). Fossil Imprint. 73 (3–4): 332–359. doi:10.2478/if-2017-0019. S2CID   31350436.
10. Averianov, Alexander; Obraztsova, Ekaterina; Danilov, Igor; Jin, Jian-Hua (2023). "A new hypercarnivorous hyaenodont from the Eocene of South China". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 11. Bibcode:2023FrEEv..1176819A. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1076819 . ISSN   2296-701X.
11. Sorkin, Boris (2008). "A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators" . Lethaia. 41 (4): 333–347. Bibcode:2008Letha..41..333S. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x. ISSN   0024-1164.