Homotherini Temporal range:
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Skeleton of Homotherium serum from Friesenhahn cave, Texas Memorial Museum, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Suborder: | Feliformia |
Family: | Felidae |
Subfamily: | †Machairodontinae |
Tribe: | †Homotherini Fabrini, 1890 |
Genera | |
Homotherini (Machairodontini) is a tribe (or subtribe)[1] of saber-toothed cats of the family Felidae (true cats). The tribe is commonly known as scimitar-toothed cats. These saber-toothed cats were endemic to North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America[2] from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from c. 23 Ma until c. 12,000 years ago.[3] The evolutionary relationship between the tribes Homotherini and Machairodontini cause paleontologists to classify Homotherini either as a subtribe of Machairodontini, or the same tribe often using either name interchangeably.