Barbourofelidae Temporal range: Miocene,
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Barbourofelis loveorum at the Florida Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Suborder: | Feliformia |
Family: | †Barbourofelidae Schultz, et al., 1970[1] |
Genera | |
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Barbourofelidae is an extinct family of carnivorans of the suborder Feliformia, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats,[2] that lived in North America, Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene epoch (16.9—9.0 million years ago) and existed for about 7.9 million years.[3] Thought to be an independent lineage from the Nimravidae and Machairodontinae, which had all attained elongated canines, recent research argues that it may be a subfamily of the Nimravidae, extending its biochronological range into the Miocene, although this issue is not yet fully resolved.[4]