Barbourofelidae

Barbourofelidae is an extinct family of carnivorans of the suborder Feliformia, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, that lived in North America, Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene epoch (16.9—9.0 million years ago) and existed for about 7.9 million years. Thought to be an independent lineage from the Nimravidae and Machairodontinae, which had all attained elongated canines, recent research argues that it may be a subfamily of the Nimravidae, extending its biochronological range into the Miocene, although this issue is not yet fully resolved.

Taxonomy

The type genus, Barbourofelis, was originally described by Schultz et al. (1970) and assigned to a new tribe, Barbourofelini, within the felid subfamily Machairodontinae, along with the other sabre-toothed cats. Subsequently, the tribe was reassigned to the Nimravidae by Tedford (1978) and raised to a subfamily by Bryant (1991). However, a number of studies in the early 2000s identified a closer affinity of the barbourofelines to the Felidae than to the Nimravidae and they were reranked as a distinct family by Morlo et al. (2004). Since then the prevailing view has the barbourofelids as the sister group to the Felidae, although this has recently been challenged, following the description of the middle Miocene genus Oriensmilus from northern China, which provided evidence, mainly based on basicranial morphology, that barbourofelids may be more closely related to nimravids than to felids.

Barbourofelids first appear in the fossil record in the Early Miocene of Africa. By the end of the Early Miocene, a land bridge had opened between Africa and Eurasia, allowing for a faunal exchange between the two continents. Barbourofelids migrated at least three times from Africa to Europe. While the genus Sansanosmilus evolved in Europe, barbourofelids also migrated through Eurasia and reached North America by the late Miocene, represented there solely by the genus Barbourofelis.

A further two species of Sansanosmilus (S. rhomboidalis and S. serratus) were described by G.E. Pilgrim in 1932 based on fragmentary fossils from the Siwaliks, and a third species from the same area and of similarly fragmentary nature, Sivasmilus copei, was described by Miklos Kretzoi in 1929. Sansanosmilus rhomboidalis was described further, with new material assigned, in 2022.

A much older species, Oriensmilus liupanensis, was described in 2020. Unlike other older barbourofelids, it was found in China.

Another species of Afrosmilini from Africa, Jinomrefu lakwanza, was described in 2020 as well. Further research into the relations of Afrosmilini was published in 2021; along with assigning new material to various species, it described an unusual specimen (FT3366, a p4) from Fort Ternan that could not be assigned to any genus, and suggested the Ginsburgsmilus was also part of Afrosmilini.

Classification

• Family †Barbourofelidae
  • †Oriensmilus
    • †Oriensmilus liupanensis
  • †Sivasmilus
    • †Sivasmilus copei
  • †Vampyrictis
    • †Vampyrictis vipera
  • Tribe †Afrosmilini
    • †Afrosmilus
      • †Afrosmilus africanus
      • †Afrosmilus hispanicus
      • †Afrosmilus turkanae
    • †Ginsburgsmilus (Morales, Salesa, Pickford, & Soria; 2001)
      • †Ginsburgsmilus napakensis
    • †Jinomrefu
      • †Jinomrefu lakwanza
    • †Prosansanosmilus (Heizmann, Ginsburg, & Bulot; 1980)
      • †Prosansanosmilus eggeri
      • †Prosansanosmilus peregrinus
    • †Syrtosmilus
      • †Syrtosmilus syrtensis
  • Tribe †Barbourofelini
    • †Albanosmilus (Kretzoi, 1929)
      • †Albanosmilus jourdani
      • †Albanosmilus whitfordi
    • †Barbourofelis (Schultz, Schultz & Martin; 1970)
      • †Barbourofelis fricki
      • †Barbourofelis loveorum
      • †Barbourofelis morrisi
      • †Barbourofelis piveteaui
    • †Sansanosmilus (Kretzoi, 1929)
      • †Sansanosmilus palmidens
      • †Sansanosmilus rhomboidalis
      • †Sansanosmilus serratus

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of Barbourofelidae are shown in the following cladogram:

References