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Prosansanosmilus

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Prosansanosmilus
Temporal range: Late Miocene
Prosansanosmilus mandible
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Barbourofelidae
Tribe: Afrosmilini
Genus: Prosansanosmilus
Heizmann, Ginsburg, & Bulot, 1980
Type species
Prosansanosmilus peregrinus
Heizmann, Ginsburg, & Bulot, 1980
Other Species
  • Prosansanosmilus eggeri Morlo, Peigné & Nagel, 2004

Prosansanosmilus is an extinct genus of barbourofelid that lived in Europe during the Late Miocene epoch (16.9—7.246 mya), existing for approximately 9.654 million years.[1] It contains Prosansanosmilus peregrinus, which died out in the Miocene epoch.

Taxonomy

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Prosansanosmilus was named in 1980 by Heizmann et al. with the type species Prosansanosmilus peregrinus.[2] 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 second species, P. eggeri from the Middle Miocene 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.[3]

Distribution

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P. peregrinus lived in MN4 of France and Germany.[3] Two fossils of P. peregrinus have been found in France and another two have been found in Germany. P. peregrinus was a ground-dwelling creature.[2]

Morphology

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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.

Time range

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P. peregrinus is thought to have lived between 16.9 and 16 Mya. New evidence suggests that P. peregrinus lived 20–16 Mya. German scientists excavated a fossil of P. peregrinus dating 20 Mya. Other scientists think that P. peregrinus lived between 16.9 and 15.7 Mya.

References

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  1. ^ Prosansanosmilus in the Paleobiology Database
  2. ^ a b Heizmann, E. P. J.; Ginsburg, L.; Bulot, C. (1980). "Prosansanosmilus peregrinus, ein neuer machairodontider Felide aus dem Miocän Deutschlands und Frankreichs" [Prosansanosmilus peregrinus, a new machairodontid felid from the Miocene of Germany and France]. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde Ser. B. (in German). 58: 1–27.
  3. ^ a b Morlo, Michael; Peigné, Stéphane; Nagel, Doris (2004). "A new species of Prosansanosmilus: implications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank (Carnivora, Mammalia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 140 (1): 43–61. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00087.x.