Abstract
THE phylogeny of the Felidæ forms the subject of an. article, by Dr. W. D. Matthew, published in vol. xxviii. (pp. 289–316) of the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. According to the author, the great majority of the extinct members of the family, including all the oldest species, are characterised by a more or less pronounced development of the upper canines into long, flat-sided tusks. These are the so-called sabre-tooths, or machærodonts, which date from the Lower Oligocene, typical cats with relatively short upper canines being unknown before the Pliocene. The early sabre-tooths are, however, divisible into two series, one characterised by the extreme length and slenderness of the tusks and the large size of the protecting flange on the-lower jaw, and the other by the shorter tusks and smaller flange. Hoplophoneus and Dinictis respectively represent the two series in America. While the derivation of the large Pliocene and Pleistocene sabre-tooths from Hoplophoneus has been accepted, the relations of the modern cats to Dinictis have been overlooked. “The evidence appears, however, to indicate that the Dinictis phylum led directly into the modern Felida?, the canines having reverted from the almost unique machærodont specialisation to the normal type of carnivorous mammals. The series Dinictis—Nimravus—Pseudælurus—Felis are in direct succession, structurally and geologically.”
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
American Vertebrate Palæontology . Nature 85, 287–288 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/085287b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/085287b0