This article possibly contains
original research. (November 2023) |
Hyainailouroidea Middle | |
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Comparison of various Early to Middle Miocene hyaenodonts, including the hyainailurids Hyainailouros sulzeri (top) and Megistotherium osteothlastes (center), and teratodontid Dissopsalis pyroclasticus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | † Hyaenodonta |
Superfamily: | †
Hyainailouroidea Borths, 2016 [1] |
Families | |
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Hyainailouroidea (" hyena- cats") is a superfamily of extinct predatory mammals from extinct order Hyaenodonta. Fossil remains of these mammals are known from middle Eocene to late Miocene deposits in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. [2] Members of this group probably originate from Afro-Arabia, a continent that remained isolated from the Albian ( Early Cretaceous, around 100 Ma) to the Miocene (around 16 Ma). While in North America and Eurasia hyaenodonts competed with other predatory mammals, in Afro-Arabia they remained the main terrestrial predators. [1]