Prosansanosmilus

Prosansanosmilus
Temporal range: Late Miocene
Prosansanosmilus mandible
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: †Barbourofelidae
Genus: †Prosansanosmilus
Species

P. eggeri[1]
P. peregrinus

Prosansanosmilus is an extinct genus of mammalian carnivores of the suborder Feliformia, family Barbourofelidae, which lived in Europe during the Miocene epoch (16.9—16.0 mya), existing for approximately 0.9 million years.[2]

Taxonomy

Prosansanosmilus was named by Heizmann et al. (1980). Its type is Prosansanosmilus peregrinus. It was assigned to Nimravinae by Heizmann et al. (1980); to Felidae by Carroll (1988); to Barbourofelinae by Bryant (1991); and to Barbourofelidae by Morlo et al. (2004) and Morlo (2006).[3]

A new species, P. eggeri from the Middle Eocene locality of Sandelzhausen, Germany, was described in 2004. It differed from other European barbourofelids in having a more plesiomorphic ("ancestral") morphology, with less developed sabretooth adaptations and being smaller. However, the species is stratigraphically younger than P. peregrinus; and probably part of the African faunal immigration into Europe during the Middle Eocene. [1]

Morphology

Like all barbourofelids, Prosansanosmilus was very muscular, short legged and probably walked plantigrade (flat-footed). There are only two species of Prosansanosmilus, which lived in Spain, France and Germany during the Late Miocene epoch.

References

  1. 1 2 Morlo, Michael; Peigné, Stéphane; Nagel, Doris (2004). "A new species of Prosansanosmilus: implications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank (Carnivora, Mammalia)" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 140: 43–61. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00087.x.
  2. ↑ PaleoBiology Database: Prosansanosmilus, basic info
  3. ↑ E.P.J. Heizmann, L. Ginsburg, and C. Bulot. 1980. Prosansanosmilus peregrinus, ein neuer machairodontider Felide aus dem Miocän Deutschlands und Frankreichs. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Ser. B. 58:1-27 L. van den Hoek Ostende/L. van den Hoek Ostende
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