Yoshi (genus)

Yoshi Temporal range: Late Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	†Machairodontinae
Tribe:	†Metailurini
Genus:	†Yoshi Spassov and Geraads, 2014
Type species
Yoshi garevskii Spassov and Geraads, 2014
Other species
†Yoshi faie Jiangzuo et al., 2022 †Yoshi minor (Zdansky, 1924) †Yoshi obscura (Hendey, 1974) †Yoshi yongdengensis Jiangzuo et al., 2022
Synonyms
Yoshi minor Metailurus minor Zdansky, 1924 Metailurus parvulus Machairodus parvulus Pikermia parvula Parapseudailurus minor Yoshi obscura Felis obscura Adelphailurus obscura Megantereon obscura Metailurus obscurus

Yoshi is an extinct genus of machairodontine sabertooth cat in the tribe Metailurini. Its fossils were described from Turolian deposits from the Miocene epoch of the Balkan Peninsula in 2014 and specimens from China once thought to belong to Metailurus. The name comes from that of the lead author's pet cat. It has been described as potentially being synonymous with Metailurus, though this is difficult to confirm at present. The type specimen is a skull that bears remarkable similarities with the modern cheetah. Yoshi is intermediate in size between a lynx and cougar, and based on several as-yet unpublished skeletons (as of 2014^[update]), may have had a similar lifestyle to the cheetah, being better built for speed and fast pursuit than most other machairodonts, which were more suited to ambush and hunting large, relatively slow moving animals.^[1][2]

The genus was named after the pet cat of Nikolai Spassov, one of the authors of the paper that described it.^[1]