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Machairodus ✝

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Description

Machairodus is a genus of large machairodontine saber-toothed cats that lived in Africa and Eurasia during the late Miocene. It is the animal from which the family Machairodontidae gets its name and has since become a wastebasket taxon over the years as many genera of sabertooth cat have been and are still occasionally lumped into it.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodus, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 4.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	3240063	https://www.gbif.org/species/3240063
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	41059	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=41059

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Felidae : Machairodus

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Synapsida	Osborn 1903
-	Therapsida
infraorder	Cynodontia
-	Epicynodontia	Hopson and Kitching 2001
infraorder	Eucynodontia	Kemp 1982
-	Probainognathia	Hopson 1990
-	Mammaliamorpha	Rowe 1988
-	Mammaliaformes	Rowe 1988
class	Mammalia	Linnaeus 1758
subclass	Tribosphenida
infraclass	Eutheria
-	Placentalia	Owen 1837
-	Laurasiatheria	Waddell et al. 1999
-	Scrotifera	Waddell et al. 1999
-	Ferae	Linnaeus 1758
-	Carnivoramorpha	Wyss and Flynn 1993
-	Carnivoraformes	Flynn et al.
order	Carnivora	Bowditch 1821
suborder	Feliformia	Kretzoi 1945
superfamily	Aeluroidea	Flower 1869
family	Felidae	Gray 1821
subfamily	Machairodontinae	Gill 1872
tribe	Machairodontini	Gill 1872
genus	Machairodus	Kaup 1833

Scientific Name

Machairodus Kaup, 1833

Name Published In

Descr. Oss. Foss., 2

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Felidae	stated without evidence	Kaup, 1833
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Machairodontinae	stated without evidence	Hay, 1902
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Machairodontini	stated without evidence	Berta and Galiano, 1983
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Felidae	implied	Carroll, 1988
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Machairodontinae	stated without evidence	Sotnikova, 1991
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Homotheriini	stated without evidence	Slater and Van Valkenburgh, 2008
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Felidae	stated without evidence	Werdelin and Peigne, 2010
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Homotheriini	stated without evidence	Antón et al., 2013
Machairodus	genus	belongs to Machairodontini	stated with evidence	Wallace and Hulbert, 2013

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

23.0 - 11.6 Ma
Miocene

Last Recorded Appearance

0.78 - 0.01 Ma
Pleistocene

Environment

terrestrial (based on Eutheria)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

carnivore (based on Felidae)

Ecospace Comments

meat group (Van Valkenburgh 1988)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

J. J. Kaup. 1833. Description d'Ossements Fossiles de Mammifères Inconnus Jusqu'à-Présent. 2:1-31

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machairodus

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Machairodus catocopis ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		4	10.3 Ma Miocene	10.3 Ma Miocene
Machairodus giganteus ✝ species	listed (PBDB)		9	23.0 Ma Miocene	5.33 Ma Miocene
Machairodus irtyschensis ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		2	5.33 Ma Miocene	5.33 Ma Miocene
Machairodus ischimicus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	5.33 Ma Miocene	5.33 Ma Miocene
Machairodus kabir ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	7.25 Ma Miocene	7.25 Ma Miocene
Machairodus kurteni ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	8.70 Ma Miocene	8.70 Ma Miocene
Machairodus latidens ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		2	0.78 Ma Pleistocene	0.78 Ma Pleistocene
Machairodus necator ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Machairodus niobrarensis species	accepted (GBIF)	No associated record in PBDB
Machairodus schlosseri ✝ species	listed (PBDB)		4	11.6 Ma Miocene	11.6 Ma Miocene

Obsolete Names

Name	Source	Taxon Rank	Taxonomy
Machaerodus Agassiz, 1846	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Felidae : *Machaerodus*
Machiarodus Leidy, 1854	GBIF	genus	Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Felidae : *Machiarodus*

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1833	Machairodus Kaup p. 24 figs. Plate 1, Fig. 5, 5a, 5c & 5e
1902	Machairodus Hay p. 777
1970	Machairodus Bjork p. 43
1983	Machairodus Berta and Galiano p. 896
1988	Machairodus Carroll
1991	Machairodus Sotnikova p. 362
1998	Machairodus Martin p. 239

Year	Name and Author
2003	Machairodus Roussiakis and Theodorou
2005	Machairodus Peigne et al. p. 244
2008	Machairodus Slater and Van Valkenburgh p. 407
2010	Machairodus Werdelin and Peigne p. 651
2012	Machairodus Koufos p. 58
2013	Machairodus Antón et al. p. 1206
2013	Machairodus Wallace and Hulbert p. 3 figs. Figure 2

References

Kaup J. J. Description d'Ossements Fossiles de Mammifères Inconnus Jusqu'à-Présent 2, 1-31

Hay O. P. (1902) , Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179, 1-868

Bjork P. R. (1970) The Carnivora of the Hagerman Local Fauna (Late Pliocene) of Southwestern Idaho, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 60 7, 3-54

Berta A., Galiano H. (1983) Megantereon hesperus from the late Hemphillian of Florida with remarks on the phylogenetic relationships of machairodonts (Mammalia, Felidae, Machairodontinae), Journal of Paleontology 57 5, 892-899

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Sotnikova M. V. (1991) A new species of Machairodus from the late Miocene Kalmakpai locality in eastern Kazakhstan (USSR), Annales Zoologici Fennici 28 3-4, 361-369

Martin L. D. (1998) Felidae, Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1, 236-242

Roussiakis S. J., Theodorou G. E. (2003) Carnivora from the Late Miocene of Kerassiá (Northern Euboea, Greece), Deinsea. Distribution and Migration of Tertiary Mammals in Eurasia. A Volume in Honour of Hans de Bruijn 10, 469-497

Peigne S., de Bonis L., et al (2005) A new machairodontine (Carnivora, Felidae) from the Late Miocene hominid locality of TM 266, Toros-Menalla, Chad, Comptes Rendus Palevol 4, 243-253

Slater G. J., Van Valkenburgh B. (2008) Long in the tooth: evolution of sabertooth cat cranial shape, Paleobiology 34 3, 403-419 doi:dx.doi.org/10.1666/07061.1

Werdelin L., Peigne S. (2010) Carnivora, Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, 603-657

Koufos G. D. (2012) New material of Carnivora (Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of Axios Valley, Macedonia, Greece, Comptes Rendus Palevol 11, 49-64 doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2011.09.004

Antón M., Salesa M. J., et al (2013) Machairodont adaptations and affinities of the Holarctic Late Miocene homotherin Machairodus (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae): the case of Machairodus catocopis Cope, 1887, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33 5, 1202-1213

Wallace S. C., Hulbert R. C. (2013) A New Machairodont from the Palmetto Fauna (Early Pliocene) of Florida, with Comments on the Origin of the Smilodontini (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae), PLoS One 8 3, e561734 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056173

Descr. Oss. Foss., 2 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000/McKenna & Bell, 1997 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000: Brands, S. J. (compiler) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006 version). Available online at http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

as per family - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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