Thylacosmilidae

Thylacosmilidae
Thylacosmilus skull
Thylacosmilus atrox paleoart
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Sparassodonta
Superfamily: Borhyaenoidea
Family: Thylacosmilidae
Riggs 1933
Genera
Synonyms

Thylacosmilinae Riggs 1933

Thylacosmilidae is an extinct family of metatherian predators, related to the modern marsupials, which lived in South America between the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. Like other South American mammalian predators that lived prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange, these animals belonged to the order Sparassodonta, which occupied the ecological niche of many eutherian mammals of the order Carnivora from other continents. The family's most notable feature are the elongated, laterally flattened fangs, which is a remarkable evolutionary convergence with other saber-toothed mammals like Barbourofelis and Smilodon.[1]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference patago was invoked but never defined (see the help page).