The Giraffidae are a family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a recent common ancestor with deer and bovids. This family, once a diverse group spread throughout Eurasia and Africa, presently comprises only two extant genera, the giraffe and the okapi. Both are confined to sub-Saharan Africa: the giraffe to the open savannas, and the okapi to the dense rainforest of the Congo. The two genera look very different on first sight, but share a number of common features, including a long, dark-coloured tongue, lobed canine teeth, and horns covered in skin, called ossicones.
Amphicyonidae is an extinct family of terrestrial carnivorans belonging to the suborder Caniformia. They first appeared in North America in the middle Eocene, spread to Europe by the late Eocene, and further spread to Asia and Africa by the early Miocene. They had largely disappeared worldwide by the late Miocene, with the latest recorded species at the end of the Miocene in Africa. They were among the first carnivorans to evolve large body size. Amphicyonids are colloquially referred to as "bear-dogs".
Metailurus is a genus of saber-toothed cat in the family Felidae, and belonging to the tribe Metailurini, which occurred in North America, Eurasia and Africa from the Miocene to the Middle Pleistocene.
Amphicyon is an extinct genus of large carnivorans belonging to the family Amphicyonidae, subfamily Amphicyoninae, from the Miocene epoch. Members of this family received their vernacular name for possessing bear-like and dog-like features. They ranged over North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Gazella praegaudryi was a small species of prehistoric gazelle described from late Miocene sediments near Bou Hanifia, Algeria. It had lightly compressed horn cores and no forward turning metaconid of its P4 premolars, differentiating it from the earlier Miocene Gazella dentition recovered at Fort Ternan.
Miomachairodus is an extinct genus of large machairodontine containing only a single species, Miomachairodus pseudailuroides. It is mainly known from Middle Miocene-age fossils in Turkey and persisted until the early Late Miocene (Vallesian). Fossils of this machairodont have been found in the Vallesian-age Bahe Formation in Shaanxi, China, and Yeni Eskihisar in Anatolia. This Turkish site is of Miocene age and is well known for its pollen studies.
Galerix kostakii is a fossil erinaceid mammal from the early Miocene of Greece. It is known from the site of Karydia, assigned to the biostratigraphical zone MN 4; similar fossils have been found at an approximately contemporary Czech site and a slightly younger Greek site. With characters like the presence of a hypocone on the upper third premolar, the presence of a connection between the protocone and metaconule cusps on the second upper molar in only a few specimens, this species is intermediate between the slightly older Galerix symeonidisi and the slightly younger Parasorex pristinus. It may form part of the lineage leading from the genus Galerix to the younger genus Parasorex.
Pristifelis is an extinct genus of feline from the late Miocene. It contains a single species, Pristifelis attica. The first fossil skull of P. attica was excavated near Pikermi in Attica, Greece. Fossils were also excavated near the Moldovan city of Taraclia. It was also discovered in Maragheh, northwestern Iran. P. attica was bigger in body size than a European wildcat but probably smaller than a serval. The species was first described as Felis attica by Johann Andreas Wagner in 1857. Due to size differences, it was proposed as type species for the genus Pristifelis proposed in 2012.
Panamacebus is an extinct genus of monkey known from the Early Miocene of central Panama. Panamacebus transitus is the only and type species of this genus.
Brachyprotoma, also known as the short-faced skunks, is an extinct genus of large skunk that inhabited Pleistocene North America, with specimens having been found from Yukon to West Virginia. There currently exists only one accepted species, Brachyprotoma obtusata.
Losodokodon is an extinct genus of large herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Mammutidae. It was first described in 2009 by David Tab Rasmussen and Mercedes Gutiérrez from fossils found in the Erageleit Formation of northwestern Kenya. Losodokodon lived during the Late Oligocene, between 27 and 24 million years ago. It is known from isolated molars and premolars. Dental mesowear suggests a browsing diet.
Triconodon is a genus of extinct mammal from the Early Cretaceous of England and France with two known species: T. mordax and T. averianovi. First described in 1859 by Richard Owen, it is the type genus for the order Triconodonta, a group of mammals characterised by their three-cusped (triconodont) molar teeth. Since then, this "simplistic" type of dentition has been understood to be either ancestral for mammals or else to have evolved multiple times, rendering "triconodonts" a paraphyletic or polyphyletic assemblage respectively, but several lineages of "triconodont" mammals do form a natural, monophyletic group, known as Eutriconodonta, of which Triconodon is indeed part of.
Promephitis is an extinct genus of mephitid, of which several species have been described from the Miocene and early Pliocene of Europe and Asia.
Tragoportax is an extinct genus of bovid ungulate. It lived from the upper Miocene to the earliest Pliocene, and its fossils have been found in southeastern Europe, parts of Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. Tragoportax was formerly considered a close relative of the extant nilgai, though more recent studies suggest that it, and several other Miocene "boselaphins", formed a tribe of their own. The number of Tragoportax species has varied over the years, and some have been reassigned to the related genus Miotragocerus. The first Tragoportax specimens were discovered in Greece, and were originally assigned to Capra. Subsequently, they were reassigned to Tragocerus. This genus name was preoccupied by a beetle, and thus Tragoportax is the correct name.
Megadolodus is an extinct genus of proterotheriid litopterns.
Titanotaria is a genus of late, basal walrus from the Miocene of Orange County, California. Unlike much later odobenids, it lacked tusks. Titanotaria is known from an almost complete specimen which serves as the holotype for the only recognized species, Titanotaria orangensis, it is the best preserved fossil walrus currently known.
Altitypotherium is an extinct genus of Notoungulate, belonging to the suborder Typotheria. It lived during the Early Miocene, and its fossilized remains were discovered in South America.
Villarroelia is an extinct genus of proterotheriid from the Middle Miocene of Colombia.
Vishnufelis is a fossil genus of feline (cat) containing only a single species, Vishnufelis laticeps. It was described by Guy Ellcock Pilgrim in 1932, based on the first cranial material of a cat found in Asia: a fragmented skull found in the Chinji Formation, which dates back to the middle Miocene.
Peignecyon is an extinct genus of large carnivorans belonging to the family Amphicyonidae. It belongs to the subfamily Thaumastocyoninae, which is characterized by their adaptions towards hypercarnivory. Whereas most other thaumastocyonines are often only known from fragmentary remains and isolated teeth, Peignecyon is known from a variety of well-preserved remains. It contains a single species, P. felinoides from the Early Miocene of the Czech Republic.
