Nimravides

Nimravides Temporal range: Middle Miocene–Late Miocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Nimravides catacopis skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Superfamily:	Feloidea
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Felinae
Genus:	†Nimravides

Nimravides was a prehistoric saber-toothed felid that lived in North America during the middle and late Miocene.^[1] Despite its scientific name Nimravides does not belong to the Nimravidae, but is a true felid, belonging to the family Felidae.

The earlier species of the genus, like Nimravides pedionomus from Chlaredonian deposits are smaller and more primitive than later forms, like Nimravides catacopsis. The tiger-sized Nimravides catacopsis strongly resembles the primitive Machairodus aphanistus, a species known from the Late Miocene of Eurasia.^[2]

References

1. ^ Larry D.Martin: Felidae in Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, Ungulatelike Mammals, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
2. ^ Turner, Alan (1997). The Big Cats and their fossil relatives. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 25. ISBN 0-231-10228-3.