Kingdom Animalia Family †Barbourofelidae Rank Genus | Class Mammalia Phylum Chordata Order Carnivores | |
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Similar Carnivores, Barbourofelidae, Dinaelurus, Quercylurus, Pogonodon | ||
Prosansanosmilus is an extinct genus of mammalian carnivores of the suborder Feliformia, family Barbourofelidae, which lived in Europe during the Miocene epoch (16.9—16.0 mya), existing for approximately 0.9 million years.
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Taxonomy
Prosansanosmilus was named by Heizmann et al. (1980). Its type is Prosansanosmilus peregrinus. It was assigned to Nimravinae by Heizmann et al. (1980); to Felidae by Carroll (1988); to Barbourofelinae by Bryant (1991); and to Barbourofelidae by Morlo et al. (2004) and Morlo (2006).
A new species, P. eggeri from the Middle Eocene locality of Sandelzhausen, Germany, was described in 2004. It differed from other European barbourofelids in having a more plesiomorphic ("ancestral") morphology, with less developed sabretooth adaptations and being smaller. However, the species is stratigraphically younger than P. peregrinus; and probably part of the African faunal immigration into Europe during the Middle Eocene.
Morphology
Like all barbourofelids, Prosansanosmilus was very muscular, short legged and probably walked plantigrade (flat-footed). There are only two species of Prosansanosmilus, which lived in Spain, France and Germany during the Late Miocene epoch.