-797x638.jpg "Proailurus")
Proailurus
241241Proailurus (†Proailurus (Filhol, 1879))
Order:: Carnivore
Superfamily: Feloidea
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: †Proailurinae
Size: 1 m in length, 35 cm in height, 9-23 kg of weight.
Time period: lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25–30.8 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene
Proailurus was a prehistoric carnivore that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. Fossils have been found in Mongolia, Germany, and Spain. Proailurus is largely considered to be the first "true" cat and the ancestor of the entire cat family. One 2005 phylogeny placed it as a basal member of the Feliformia, but later studies do not support this.
Proailurus was small animal, just a little larger than the domestic cat, weighing about 10 kg. It had a long tail, large eyes and sharp claws and teeth, with similar proportions to the modern viverrids. Its claws would have been retractable to some extent. Like the viverrids, Proailurus was at least partially arboreal.
Proailurus is believed to have evolved from earlier ailuroid carnivorans such as Stenogale and Haplogale. Proailurus was a likely ancestor of Pseudaelurus, which lived 20-10 million years ago, and probably gave rise to the major felid lines, including the extinct machairodontines and the extant felines and pantherines, although the phylogeny of the cats is still not precisely known.
-70x56.jpg "2")
Proailurus (†Proailurus (Filhol, 1879))
Order:: Carnivore
Superfamily: Feloidea
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: †Proailurinae
Size: 1 m in length, 35 cm in height, 9-23 kg of weight.
Time period: lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25–30.8 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene
Proailurus was a prehistoric carnivore that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. Fossils have been found in Mongolia, Germany, and Spain. Proailurus is largely considered to be the first "true" cat and the ancestor of the entire cat family. One 2005 phylogeny placed it as a basal member of the Feliformia, but later studies do not support this.
Proailurus was small animal, just a little larger than the domestic cat, weighing about 10 kg. It had a long tail, large eyes and sharp claws and teeth, with similar proportions to the modern viverrids. Its claws would have been retractable to some extent. Like the viverrids, Proailurus was at least partially arboreal.
Proailurus is believed to have evolved from earlier ailuroid carnivorans such as Stenogale and Haplogale. Proailurus was a likely ancestor of Pseudaelurus, which lived 20-10 million years ago, and probably gave rise to the major felid lines, including the extinct machairodontines and the extant felines and pantherines, although the phylogeny of the cats is still not precisely known.
