Nimravid

Collected knowledge, news and tidbits about nimravids, also known as "false sabertooth cats," with guest appearances from ancient sabertoothed and/or feline relatives.

[nimravid]

12 Weird Prehistoric Creatures That Will Make You Glad You're Alive Today

Featuring a whale with legs and a vegetarian crocodile. From Julius Csotonyi's new book of paleoart.

A beautiful illustration of the nimravid Hoplophoneus made it into this Buzzfeed article. Props to Buzzfeed for correctly stating that despite appearances, nimravids are not actually cats!

According to the article, this image is from Julius Csotonyi's new paleoart book and is a collaboration between Csotonyi and his wife, Alexandra Lefort. 

[nimravid]

Information about the 2010 find of a nimravid skull at Badlands National Park near the visitor center. This significant and well-preserved specimen was found by a girl who was just seven years old!

[cosmo-nautic]

I am looking for more science blogs to follow as it seems like I never have any science on my dashboard anymore. Reblog this if you post science! (doesn’t have to be a full science blog)

[nimravid]

Nimravids and sabertooth cats here! Feliform fossils galore!

[nimravid]

Nimravids were saber-toothed cat-like animals of the family Nimravidae. Although not true cats in the Felidae family, Nimravidae are considered to be a sister taxon to felids. They are basal

In North America, the fossil record shows a long period where there were no catlike predators present. After the nimravids died out, nothing resembling a cat graced the continent for millions of years. The catless days in between the nimravids and true cats in North America are known as the "cat gap."

[kakhtus]

Smilodon populator by Rodrigo-Vega

[fairytalesinred]

Hoplophoneus mentalis (Sinclair), mounted skeleton. Original description at the source site: Hoplophoneus Mentalis Sinclair, antero-lateral view of mounted skeleton; mounted by John Clark, Courtesy of Colorado University. Plate 28, in U.S.Geological Survey Professional paper 221. 1950.

[viergacht]

A painting I started months ago and then didn’t finish because of life reasons; finally done. Put on back to back new wave albums and powered through. It’s a Nanosmilus, a bobcat sized nimravid (near-cat) from North America. 

[nimravid]

Fossil Preparation Tells Story Of Ancient Violence

They’re not really saber-tooths, and they’re not really cats, but they’re related. They’re Nimravids, and researchers have discovered they fought one

[nimravid]

A rare skeleton of a Nimravid, known as a 'false sabre-toothed cat', sold in New York

[nimravid]

Panthera blytheae by viergacht

[nimravid]

Dinictis-felina by Leogon

[mothernaturenetwork]

Earliest big cat once prowled Tibet, fossil shows There are likely older big cats waiting to be discovered, but scientists are intrigued by how little cats have evolved over millions of years.

[theolduvaigorge]

New Pseudaelurus and Styriofelis remains (Carnivora: Felidae) from the Middle Miocene of Abocador de Can Mata (Vallès-Penedès Basin)

by Josep M. Robles, Joan Madurell-Malapeira, Juan Abella, Cheyenn Rotgers, Raül Carmona,Sergio Almécija, Jordi Balaguer and David M. Alba

“New remains of felid jaws and teeth are described from several localities of the local stratigraphic series of Abocador de Can Mata (ca. 11.9 to 11.6 Ma, Middle Miocene; Vallès-Penedès Basin, Catalonia, Spain). Three different taxa are identified: Styriofelis turnauensis, Pseudaelurus romieviensis and Pseudaelurus quadridentatus. The described remains of P. romieviensis enable extending considerably the chronological range of this species in the Iberian Peninsula, in agreement with its record in the rest of Europe. Moreover, it is shown for the first time that P. romieviensis may possess a p2. The presence of this tooth therefore does not constitue a valid diagnostic feature to distinguish P. romieviensis from P. quadridentatus” (read more/not open access)

***Sometimes just posting about human evolution can get dull. Thus today we have prehistoric cats.

(Source: Comptes Rendus Palevol 12(2):101-113, 2013; bottom image: Styriofelis sp., Science Photos, Cafe Press)

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Genus: Patriofelis

…an extinct genus of large cat-like creodonts that lived in middle Eocene North America. Patriofelis was around the same size of a modern day jaguar (4-6 ft) and had short legs with broad feet, which suggests it was a poor runner and a good swimmer. Since Patriofelis was likely a swimmer it most likely led a similar lifestyle to otters and probably fed mostly on turtles which were abundant in some areas where it was found.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Chordata-Mammalia-Creodonta-Oxyaenidae-Patriofelis

Images: Dmitry Bogdanov and Gally242

[paleoillustration]

Barbourofelis loveorum by Ville Sinkkonen

[nimravid]

The toothiest prehistoric predators also had beefier arm bones, according to results of a study published today in the journal Paleobiology. Saber-toothed tigers may come to mind, but these extinct cats weren't the only animals with fearsome fangs. Take

[paleoillustration]

Thylacosmilus atrox by Viergacht

"Though Thylacosmilus is one of several predatory mammal genera typically called “sabre-toothed cats”, it was not a felid but a sparassodont, a group closely related to marsupials, and only superficially resembled other sabre-toothed mammals due to convergent evolution.” (via: Wikipedia)