Adelphailurus

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Middle {{geological range|Pliocene}}

| image =

| image_caption =

| taxon = Adelphailurus

| authority = Hibbard, 1934

| type_species = Adelphailurus kansensis

| type_species_authority = Hibbard, 1934

| range_map = Adelphailurus_range.png

| range_map_caption = Range of Adelphailurus based on fossil record

| synonyms =

Metailurus kansensis {{small|(Hibbard, 1934) sensu Andersson & Werdelin, 2005}}

}}

Adelphailurus is an extinct genus of metailurin machairodontine (saber-toothed) cat that inhabited western North America during the middle Pliocene. It is monotypic, containing only the species Adelphailurus kansensis.{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Alan |last2=Antón |first2=Mauricio |year=1997 |title=The Big Cats and their fossil relatives |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-10228-3}}

History of discovery

The holotype and only specimen, KUMVP 3462, was collected by H. T. Martin from near the base of the Ogallala Formation in Sherman County, Kansas, in the summer of 1924. It was subsequently stored in the collections at the University of Kansas' Museum of Vertebrate Paleontology. However, it was not described until 1934 when paleontologist Claude W. Hibbard erected the new genus and species Adelphailurus kansensis for the specimen.{{Cite journal|last1=Hibbard |first1=C. W. |date=1934 |title=Two new genera of Felidae from the middle Pliocene of Kansas |journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science |volume=37 |pages=239–255 |doi=10.2307/3625308 |jstor=3625308 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3625308.pdf}}

The genus name is derived from the Greek {{lang|grc|ἀδελφός}}/{{Transliteration|grc|adelphós}} meaning "brother", and {{lang|grc|αἴλουρος}}/{{Transliteration|grc|ailurus}} meaning "cat". The specific epithet kansensis means "from Kansas".

Description

The holotype of Adelphailurus kansensis consists of the anterior portion of a skull with nearly perfect dentition on both the maxillaries and premaxillaries. Hibbard stated that the living cat would have a relatively broad skull with large canines.

Classification

Hibbard only assigned the genus to the family Felidae in his original description. It was assigned to the tribe Metailurini in 1983,{{Cite journal|last1=Berta |first1=A. |last2=Galiano |first2=H. |date=1983 |title=Megantereon hesperus from the late Hemphillian of Florida with remarks on the phylogenetic relationships of machairodonts (Mammalia, Felidae, Machairodontinae) |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=57 |issue=5 |pages=892–899 |jstor=1304759}} assigned in passing to Felidae by Carroll in 1988,{{Cite book|last1=Carroll |first1=Robert L. |date=1988 |title=Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution |publisher=W.H. Freeman and Company|isbn=0716718227}}{{page needed|date=March 2024}} and to the subfamily Machairodontinae by Martin in 1998.{{Cite book|last1=Martin |first1=L. D. |date=1998 |chapter=Felidae |title=Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America |editor=C. M. Janis |editor2=K. M. Scott |editor3=L. L. Jacobs |volume=1 |pages=236–242}}

In 2005, Werdelin and Andersson suggested that Adelphailurus kansensis should be reassigned to the genus Metailurus as Metailurus kansensis,{{cite journal |last1=Andersson |first1=K. |last2=Werdelin |first2=L. |date=2005 |title=Carnivora from the late miocene of Lantian, China |url=http://ivpp.cas.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwzxz/200810/W020090813368770778229.pdf |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=267 |doi= |access-date=}} but this was rejected and refuted by Li in 2014 and Spassov & Geraads in 2015.{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yu |date=2014 |title=Restudy of Metailurus major from Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province reported by Teilhard de Chardin and Leroy |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271020687 |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages= |doi= |access-date=}}{{cite journal |title=A New Felid from the Late Miocene of the Balkans and the Contents of the Genus Metailurus Zdansky, 1924 (Carnivora, Felidae) |date=2014-05-15 |doi=10.1007/s10914-014-9266-5 |volume=22 |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |pages=45–56 |last1=Spassov |first1=Nikolai|s2cid=14261386 |last2=Geraads |first2=Denis}}

In 2010 it was suggested that Nimravides hibbardi was a junior synonym of Adelphailurus kansensis.{{Cite journal|last1=Hodnett|first1=John-Paul|date=2010|title= A Machairodont felid (Mammalia; Carnivora; Felidae) from the latest Hemphillian (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene) Bidahochi Formation, northeastern Arizona|journal= Paleobios|volume= 29|issue= 3|pages= |doi=10.5070/P9293021800|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4xr1s918|doi-access=free}}

Position of Adelphailurus in Metailurini according to a 2018 phylogenetic analysis:{{Cite journal |title=Evolution of the sabertooth mandible: A deadly ecomorphological specialization |date=2018 |last1=Piras |first1=Paolo |last2=Silvestro |first2=Daniele |last3=Carotenuto |first3=Francesco |last4=Castiglione |first4=Silvia |last5=Kotsakis |first5=Anastassios |last6=Maiorino |first6=Leonardo |last7=Melchionna |first7=Marina |last8=Mondanaro |first8=Alessandro |last9=Sansalone |first9=Gabriele |last10=Serio |first10=Carmela |last11=Vero |first11=Veronica Anna |last12=Raia |first12=Pasquale |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=496 |pages=166–174 |bibcode=2018PPP...496..166P |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.034|hdl=2158/1268434 |hdl-access=free }}

{{clade

|label1=Metailurini

|1={{clade

|1=Fortunictis acerensis

|2=Adelphailurus kansensis

|3=Stenailurus teilhardi

|4={{clade

|1=Metailurus mongoliensis

|2=Metailurus hengduanshanensis

|3=Metailurus obscurus

|4=Metailurus major

|5={{clade