Dinocrocuta

Dinocrocuta is an extinct genus of large carnivore, either considered a true hyena or a member of the closely related extinct family Percrocutidae. It lived in Eurasia and Africa during the late Miocene epoch, from 11.6 to 5.3 million years ago. It had very strong jaws that were able to crush bones. It considerably exceeded the size of living hyenas.

== Taxonomy == Dinocrocuta gigantea was originally erected as the species Hyaena gigantea by Schlosser in 1903 based on fragmentary remains found in drug stores in China, and subsequently was referred to under a number of different subgenus and genus names. In 1959, the species Hyaena algeriensis was erected by Camille Arambourg from remains found in North Africa. Schmidt-Kittler, 1976 created Dinocrocuta as a subgenus of Percrocuta, placing "H." algeriensis as its type species. Qiu et al. in 1988 raised Dinocrocuta to being a genus in its own right.