Stenoplesictis is an extinct genus of carnivorous cat-like mammals belonging to the infraorder Aeluroidea, from Europe (Quercy, France) and Asia (Mongolia) (S. indigenus), from the Oligocene 33.9—28.4 Ma, existing for about 5.5 million years.[1]

Stenoplesictis
Temporal range: Oligocene
jaws of Stenoplesictis cayluxi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Stenoplesictidae
Genus: Stenoplesictis
Filhol (1880)
Species
  • Stenoplesictis cayluxi
  • Stenoplesictis crocheti
  • Stenoplesictis minor

Stenoplesictis is shown to have an omnivorous diet or more precisely, hypercarnivorous to mesocarnivorous.[2][3]

Taxonomy

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Stenoplesictis was named by Filhol (1880). It was assigned to the Aeluroidea by Hunt (1989) and Hunt (1998); to the Viverridae by Flynn (1998); and reassigned to the Stenoplesictidae by Morlo et al. (2007).[4][5]

References

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  1. ^ Paleobiology Database: Stenoplesictis basic info.
  2. ^ J. A. Lillegraven. 1979. Reproduction in Mesozoic mammals. In J. A. Lillegraven, Z. Kielan-Jaworowska, and W. A. Clemens (eds.), Mesozoic Mammals: The First Two-Thirds of Mammalian History. University of California Press, Berkeley 259-276
  3. ^ R. M. Nowak. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, Sixth Edition I:1-836
  4. ^ R. M. Hunt. 1998. Evolution of the aeluroid Carnivora: diversity of the earliest aeluroids from Eurasia (Quercy, Hsanda-Gol) and the origin of felids. American Museum Novitates 3252:1-65
  5. ^ J. J. Flynn. 1998. Early Cenozoic Carnivora ("Miacoidea"). In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1:110-123