Nimravidae

A primitive nimravine skull from the Quercy fissures, France: implications for the origin and evolution of Nimravidae (Carnivora)

“…A multiple geographic origin of Nimravidae could explain the presence of different genera in different and distant places at roughly the same time. However, the recent studies concerning the systematics of Nimravinae (Neff, 1983;Bryant, 1991Bryant, , 1996Martin, 1998;Peignk & Bonis, 1999a) all support the monophyly of the Nimravinae, if not the Nimravidae. Moreover, the Quercy specimen here described is additional evidence that nimravine genera show a similar basicranial structure (the basicrania of Eofelis, Dinailurictis and Quercylums are yet unknown) leading to rejection of the hypothesis of a multiregional origin for the Nimravinae.…”

“…the least sabretoothed forms, are expected to appear first though this trend remains to be confirmed. Within the Nimravinae, only the species assigned to Hoplophoneus demonstrate, though imperfectly, this trend (Bryant, 1996). Nonetheless, this phyletic trend is quite true within the Barbourofelinae (Martin, 1984).…”

“…The implications of this unique association of features must be interpreted within the context of known nimravid history. At present, the earliest nimravids are known from the Late Eocene of North America (Bryant, 1996;Martin, 1998), Mongolia (Dashzeveg, 1996), Thailand (Peigne et al, ZOOO), presumably of China (Chow, 1958Ding et al, 1977Tang & Qiu, 1979), and from the Early Oligocene of Europe (see BiochroM97, 1997 for a summary). Thus, at the time of their first appearance in the fossil record, the Nimravidae already have a worldwide distribution, coming from an as yet unknown point of origin.…”

“…In contrast, the earliest known nimravids are not the less sabretoothed forms. Thus, Dinictis and Hoplophoneus are the first recorded genera in North America (Bryant, 1996;Martin, 1998), and have moderately to highly developed sabretooth features, such as an enlarged flange on the mandible, a large mastoid apophysis and glenoid pedicle and an elongated upper canine. Roughly at the same time during the Late Eocene, a much less sabretoothed nimravid genus, Nimravus, is recorded in Asia in two different places (Dashzeveg, 1996;Peigne et al, ZOOO), which are separated from one another by thousands of kilometres.…”

“…This family is usually divided into the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene Nimravinae and the MiddleLate Miocene Barbourofelinae (Bryant, 1991). The subfamily Nimravinae, which is the subject of this paper, occurs during the Paleogene, and the oldest remains come from the Late Eocene in North America (Bryant, 1996;Martin, 1998) and Asia (Chow, 1958;Ding et al, 1977;Dashzeveg, 1996;Peigne et aZ., 2000). It is well represented in North American deposits by 11 to 15 species, depending on the author (Bryant, 1996;Martin, 1998); and in Europe by at least seven species (BiochroM97, 1997;pers.…”