| Protursus Temporal range: Late Miocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ailuridae |
| Subfamily: | † Simocyoninae |
| Genus: | † Protursus Crusafont and Kurtén, 1976 |
| Type species | |
| †Protursus simpsoni Crusafont and Kurtén, 1976 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Protursus is a fossil genus of ailurid with a single species Protursus simpsoni, known from a single left m2 tooth. [1]
Protursus simpsoni was believed to be an ursid (bear) closely related to Ursavus by its original describers. In 1977, Thenius lumped the species into the genus Simocyon as Simocyon simpsoni, but this was rejected in 2005, instead being split back into Protursus, though as a member of the subfamily Simocyoninae. [2] [3] [4]
Protursus simpsoni is known from only a single specimen, a left m2 found at the Late Miocene Can Llobateras site in Spain. [1]
Carnivora is an order of placental mammals that have specialized in primarily eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the fifth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species.
Proailurus is an extinct felid genus that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 30.8-25 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. Fossils have been found in Mongolia, Germany, and Spain.
Pseudaelurus is a prehistoric cat that lived in Europe, Asia and North America in the Miocene between approximately twenty and eight million years ago. It is considered to be a paraphyletic grade ancestral to living felines and pantherines as well as the extinct machairodonts (saber-tooths), and is a successor to Proailurus. It originated from Eurasia and was the first cat to reach North America, when it entered the continent at about 18.5 Ma ending a 'cat-gap' of 7 million years. The slender proportions of the animal, together with its short, viverrid-like legs, suggest that it may have been an agile climber of trees.
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 appear in 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".
Caniformia is a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of "dog-like" carnivorans. They include dogs, bears, raccoons, and mustelids. The Pinnipedia are also assigned to this group. The center of diversification for the Caniformia is North America and northern Eurasia. Caniformia stands in contrast to the other suborder of Carnivora, the Feliformia, the center of diversification of which was in Africa and southern Asia.
Nimravidae is an extinct family of carnivorans, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, whose fossils are found in North America and Eurasia. Not considered to belong to the true cats, the nimravids are generally considered closely related and classified as a distinct family in the suborder Feliformia. Fossils have been dated from the Middle Eocene through the Late Miocene epochs, spanning about 33.2 million years.
Ailuridae is a family in the mammal order Carnivora. The family consists of the red panda and its extinct relatives.
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.
Simocyon is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America and Africa.
Parictis is an extinct arctoid, possibly the earliest genus of bears known, though a recent variety of morphological evidence links amphicynodontines with pinnipeds. It was a very small and graceful arctoid with a skull only 7 cm long. Parictis first appeared in North America in the Late Eocene, but it did not arrive in Eurasia until the Miocene. Some suggest that Parictis may have emigrated from Asia into North America during the major sea level low about 37 mya, because of the continued evolution of the Amphicynodontinae into the Hemicyoninae in Asia. Although no Parictis fossils have been found in East Asia, Parictis does appear in Eurasia and Africa, but not until the Miocene.
Agnotherium is a genus of large sized carnivoran mammals, belonging to the Amphicyonidae, which has been found in Western Europe, and possibly China and Northern Africa, and lived during the Late Miocene epoch. Despite only being known from fragmentary remains, the genus notable for hypercarnivorous adaptions, which have been said to represent the "apex" among its family.
Ursavus is an extinct genus of bear that existed in North America, Europe, and Asia during the Miocene period, about 23–5.3 million years ago (Mya), existing for roughly 17.7 million years. The genus apparently dispersed from Asia into North America about 20 Mya, becoming the earliest member of the subfamily Ursinae in the New World. Qiu points out that if a questionable 29 million-year-old specimen of Ursavus reported in North America is validated, Ursavus may have evolved in North America and dispersed westward into Asia. The higher number of fossils in Europe grading toward eastern Asia make the westward dispersal unlikely.
Cerro de los Batallones is a hill at Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid, Spain where a number of fossil sites from the Upper Miocene (MN10) have been found. Nine sites have been discovered with predominantly vertebrate fossils, invertebrates and plants being less represented. The first deposits were discovered accidentally in July 1991.
Indraloris is a fossil primate from the Miocene of India and Pakistan in the family Sivaladapidae. Two species are now recognized: I. himalayensis from Haritalyangar, India and I. kamlialensis from the Pothohar Plateau, Pakistan. Other material from the Potwar Plateau may represent an additional, unnamed species. Body mass estimates range from about 2 kg (4.4 lb) for the smaller I. kamlialensis to over 4 kg (8.8 lb) for the larger I. himalayensis.
Styriofelis is an extinct genus of Felidae known from the Miocene of Europe.
Simocyoninae is an extinct subfamily of Ailuridae. The taxonomic history of this group was complicated, as researchers placed various fossil caniform genera into the subfamily. In addition to Simocyon, there was also Oligobunis, Cephalogale, and Enhydrocyon. This subfamily was initially classified within the Canidae or dog family. This idea went even further in 1910 when American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn considered dholes, African wild dogs, and bush dogs to be the only extant representation left of the simocyonines. This was in large part to the overall similarity in the morphology of their molars, which suggested a shared ancestry of hypercarnivory. This view point was not supported by European paleontologists who believed that Simocyon was more closely related to musteloids. Soon the Simocyoninae were found as extinct subfamily of procyonids, or members of the raccoon-family, due to similarity of the basicranium of these animals. This was supported by subsequent researchers. It was not until a more completed skull of a Simocyon found in north Shaanxi, China was described by Wang (1997) who found that Simocyoninae is closely related Ailurinae on the basis of cranial and dental characteristics.
Amphictis was an extinct genus of ailurid that existed from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene with fossils found in Eurasia and North America with a total of nine described species. The interrelationships of the different species as well as their relationship to the other ailurids is not fully understood. Usually Amphictis is classified in the basal monotypic subfamily Amphictinae, but there is not certain as the genus could potentially be a paraphyletic with the Oligocene species A. borbonica being a potential sister taxon to the ancestor of the subfamily Ailurinae, while a Middle Miocene clade consisting of an anagenesis line from A. prolongata–to–A. wintershofensis–to–A. cuspida being closer to the ancestry of the now extinct Simocyoninae. This is due to the nature of their plesiomorphic nature of their anatomy.
Ammitocyon is a genus of large sized carnivoran mammals, belonging to the Amphicyonidae, that lived during the Late Miocene in what is now Spain. It is notable for its extreme adaptations towards hypercarnivory, its extremely robust skeleton, and was one of the last surviving members of its family.
Actiocyon was an extinct genus of ailurid that existed from the Middle Miocene of North America. The type species, Actiocyon leardi, was described in 1947 by the American paleontologist Chester Stock.
Magerictis is a fossil genus of ailurid with a single species Magerictis imperialenis, which was originally known from a single m2 tooth. Several more specimens were later found, but were undescribed as of 2014.
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