Pseudaelurus is a prehistoric
catFelidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...
that lived in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
,
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and
North AmericaNorth 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...
in the
MioceneThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
approximately 20-8 million years ago. It is an ancestor of today's
felinesFelinae is a subfamily of the family Felidae which includes the genera and species listed below. Most are small to medium-sized cats, although the group does include some larger animals, such as the Cougar and Cheetah....
and
pantherinesPantherinae is the subfamily of the family Felidae, which includes the genera Panthera, Uncia and Neofelis.The divergence of Pantherinae from Felinae has been ranked between six and ten million years ago. DNA analysis suggests that the snow leopard Uncia uncia is basal to the entire Pantherinae and...
as well as the extinct
machairodont saber-toothsMachairodontinae is an extinct carnivoran mammal subfamily of Felidae endemic to Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from c. 23 Ma until c...
, and is a successor to
ProailurusProailurus was a prehistoric carnivore that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. One recent phylogeny places it as a basal member of the Feloidea, the superfamily that includes mongooses, civets, hyenas, and cats; but other studies suggest...
. It originated from Eurasia and was the first felid to reach North America, when it entered the continent at about 18.5 m.y 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.
Europe
The first and most primitive species
Pseudaelurus turnauensis (=
Pseudaelurus transitorius) from the early Miocene was about the size of a domestic cat and probably evolved directly from the Oligocene
ProailurusProailurus was a prehistoric carnivore that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. One recent phylogeny places it as a basal member of the Feloidea, the superfamily that includes mongooses, civets, hyenas, and cats; but other studies suggest...
. The European
Pseudaelurus turnauensis gave rise to additional species.
Pseudaelurus lorteti was lynx-sized and the even larger
Pseudaelurus quadridentatus weighed about 30 kg and was approximately the size of a cougar. The latter showed a trend towards slightly enlarged upper canines, indicating that it gave rise to the later saber-toothed
machairodontineMachairodontinae is an extinct carnivoran mammal subfamily of Felidae endemic to Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from c. 23 Ma until c...
s. Unexpectedly, the early
Pseudaelurus turnauensis survived until 8 million years ago, at which time it is recorded in Germany, whereas the more derived
Pseudaelurus lorteti and
Pseudaelurus quadridentatus died out 2 million years earlier. A fourth European species is described as
Pseudaelurus romieviensis, smaller than
P. quadridentatus but larger than
P. lorteti.
Africa and Asia
P. turnauensis is also recorded from the early Miocene Africa (
Saudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
).
P. lorteti is also recognized from the middle Miocene of Asia (
Jiangsu' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
, China), where two additional species,
Pseudaelurus guangheensis from the middle Miocene of
Gansu' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
(China) and
Pseudaelurus cuspidatus from the middle Miocene of
XinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
(China) are reported.
North America
Pseudaelurus intrepidus from the Early to Late
BarstovianThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
of North America was a relatively large species, overlapping in size with the European
P. quadridentatus. A second large North American species from the Early and Late Barstovian was
Pseudaelurus marshi.
Pseudaelurus stouti (originally described as
LynxA lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
stouti) also from the Early and Late Barstovian was a very small and slender from of the genus.
Pseudaelurus aeluroides with only a type specimen from Early Barstovian from Nebraska is not well studied, but may be conspecific with
P. marshi. A species
Pseudaelurus validus, from the late
HemingfordianThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
of New Mexico was described in 2001. This species overlaps in size with
P. intrepidus,
P. marshi and
P. quadridentatus. Recently (2003) an additional North American species
Pseudaelurus skinneri from the Late Hemingfordian of Nebraska was described. This species is smaller than
P. validus and overlaps in size with the Eurasian species
P. lorteti,
P. cuspidatus and
p. guangheensis.
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