Thylacosmilidae

Thylacosmilidae Temporal range: Early Miocene-Late Pliocene (Colhuehuapian-Chapadmalalan) 21–3 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Thylacosmilus skull
Thylacosmilus atrox paleoart
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Sparassodonta
Superfamily:	†Borhyaenoidea
Family:	†Thylacosmilidae Riggs 1933
Genera
Anachlysictis Goin 1997 Eomakhaira Engelman et al. 2020 Patagosmilus Forasiepi & Carlini 2010 Thylacosmilus Riggs 1933
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]