| Nimravidae Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Hoplophoneus mentalis | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Superfamily: | †Nimravoidea |
| Family: | †Nimravidae Cope, 1880 |
| Genera[2] | |
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Nimravidae is an extinct family of carnivorans, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, whose fossils are found in North America and Eurasia. Not considered to belong to the true cats (family Felidae), the nimravids are generally considered closely related and classified as a distinct family in the suborder Feliformia. Fossils have been dated from the Middle Eocene through the Late Miocene epochs (Bartonian through Tortonian stages, 40.4–7.2 million years ago), spanning about 33.2 million years.[3]
The barbourofelids, which were formerly classified as a subfamily of the Nimravidae, were reassigned to their own distinct family Barbourofelidae in 2004.[4] However, some recent (2020) studies suggest the barbourofelids are a branch of the nimravids, suggesting that this debate might not be settled yet.[5]
- ^ Poust, Ashley W.; Barrett, Paul Z.; Tomiya, Susumu (2022). "An early nimravid from California and the rise of hypercarnivorous mammals after the middle Eocene climatic optimum". Biology Letters. 18 (10): 20220291. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2022.0291. hdl:2433/276689. S2CID 252818430.
- ^ Barrett, Paul Zachary (2021-10-26). "The largest hoplophonine and a complex new hypothesis of nimravid evolution". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 21078. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00521-1. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8548586. PMID 34702935.
- ^ Nimravidae in the Paleobiology Database
- ^ Morlo, Michael; Peigné, Stéphane; Nagel, Doris (January 2004). "A new species of Prosansanosmilus: implications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank (Carnivora, Mammalia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 140 (1): 43. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00087.x.
- ^ Wang, Xiaoming; White, Stuart C.; Guan, Jian (2 May 2020). "A new genus and species of sabretooth, Oriensmilus liupanensis (Barbourofelinae, Nimravidae, Carnivora), from the middle Miocene of China suggests barbourofelines are nimravids, not felids". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (9): 783–803. doi:10.1080/14772019.2019.1691066. S2CID 211545222.