Dinaelurus is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Nimravidae

Nimravidae

The Nimravidae, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, are an extinct family of mammalian carnivores belonging to the suborder Feliformia and endemic to North America, Europe, and Asia living from the Eocene through the Miocene epochs , existing for approximately .-Morphology:Although some...

, endemic to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 during the Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

-Oligocene

Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...

 epochs (30.8—20.6 mya), existing for approximately .

It is believed that Dinaelurus was a cursorial predator meaning it ran down its prey. This is suggested by the nimravid's short face and large nostril, similar to a cheetah which is also a cursorial predator.

Taxonomy

Dinaelurus was named by Eaton (1922). Its type is Dinaelurus crassus. It was assigned to Nimravinae by Flynn and Galiano (1982) and Bryant (1991); and to Nimravidae by Eaton (1922) and Martin (1998).

In popular culture

Dinaelurus crassus is the ancestor of the fictional species, Dinaelurus illumina sapiens, in the Ratha

Ratha

Ratha is the Indo-Iranian term for the spoked-wheel chariot of Antiquity.It derives from a collective to a Proto-Indo-European word for "wheel" that also resulted in Latin rota and is also known from Germanic, Celtic and Baltic...

 or "Named" series by author Clare Bell

Clare Bell

Clare Bell is an author in the U.S. best known for her Ratha series of young adult fantasy novels about prehistoric big cats. These books, also called the Named series, are about intelligent self-aware large cats who have puma, cheetah and lion characteristics, and are based on fossil creatures...

.

Fossil distribution

One specimen found in the John Day Formation in Oregon and was described by Eaton in 1922.

Sources

• http://home.earthlink.net/~ratha13/id5.html
• http://www.rathascourage.com/research.html