Prehistoric felids

Proailurus is an extinct felid genus that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25–30.8 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. Fossils have been found in Mongolia, Germany, and Spain.

Miracinonyx, colloquially known as the American cheetah or the New World cheetah, is an extinct genus of felids belonging to the subfamily Felinae that was endemic to North America from the Pleistocene epoch (about 2.5 million to 16,000 years ago) and morphologically similar to the modern cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), although its apparent similar ecological niches have been considered questionable due to anatomical morphologies of the former that would have limited its ability to act as a specialized pursuit predator. The genus was originally known from fragments of skeletons, but nearly comple

species of mammal

Pseudaelurus is a prehistoric cat that lived in Europe, Asia and North America in the Miocene between approximately twenty and eight million years ago. It is considered to be a paraphyletic grade ancestral to living felines and pantherines as well as the extinct machairodonts (saber-tooths), and is a successor to Proailurus. It originated from Eurasia and was the first cat to reach North America, when it entered the continent at about 18.5 Ma ending a 'cat-gap' of 7 million years. The slender proportions of the animal, together with its short, viverrid-like legs, suggest that it may have

Styriofelis is an extinct genus of Felidae known from the Miocene of Europe.

Pratifelis is an extinct genus of feline that lived in North America during the middle Miocene period. It contains a single species, Pratifelis martini.

Magerifelis is an extinct genus of feline with only one species assigned to it, Magerifelis peignei. It was described in 2024 based on seven fossils from the middle Miocene of Spain and France.

Miopanthera is an extinct genus of Pseudaelurus-grade felids.

Hyperailurictis is an extinct genus of felid from Miocene North America. The Hyperailurictis species are Pseudaelurus-grade felids and thought to be the first felids in the Americas. ==Taxonomy and evolution== ===Taxonomic history=== In 1858, the paleontologist Joseph Leidy described a new species of cat, Felis intrepidus, based on lower jaw fragments (a left ramus, described, and a right ramus, mentioned only and now lost) found somewhere in Nebraska near the Niobrara river. The fragments were later determined to have come from the lower Valentine Formation, making them late Barstovian in ag

Extinct species of felid

REDIRECT Proailurus

Leptofelis is an extinct genus of Pseudaelurus-grade felid found in Spain.

Sivapanthera is a prehistoric genus of felid described by Kretzoi in 1929. Species of Sivapanthera are closely related to the modern cheetah but differ from modern cheetahs by having relatively longer brain cases, flatter foreheads, narrower nostrils and larger teeth. In many ways, skulls of Sivapanthera show similarity to those of the puma, or even those of Panthera. Scholars differ on the validity of this genus, while some think that it should be treated as a distinct genus, others think that its members should be treated as members of the Acinonyx genus, or even as subspecies of Acinonyx pa