Barbourofelidae

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.{{cite journal |first1=C. B. |last1=Schultz |first2=M. |last2=Schultz |first3=L. D. |last3=Martin |year=1970 |title=A new Tribe of Saber-toothed cats (Barbourofelini) from the Pliocene of North America |journal=Bulletin of the Nebraska State Museum |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=1–31 |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/museumbulletin/54/}} Subsequently, the tribe was reassigned to the Nimravidae by Tedford (1978) and raised to a subfamily by Bryant (1991).{{cite journal|last1=Bryant|first1=H. N.|title=Phylogenetic Relationships and Systematics of the Nimravidae (Carnivora)|journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=72|issue=1|year=1991|pages=56–78|issn=1545-1542 |doi=10.2307/1381980|jstor=1381980}}{{cite journal |author=Michale Morlo |author2=Stéphane Peigné |author3=Doris Nagel |name-list-style=amp |date=January 2004 |title=A new species of Prosansanosmilus: implications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank (Carnivora, Mammalia) |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=140 |issue=1 |pages=43 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00087.x |doi-access=free}} However, a number of studies in the early 2000s identified a closer affinity of the barbourofelines to the Felidae than to the Nimravidae{{cite journal |author=Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende |author2=Michael Morlo |author3=Doris Nagel |name-list-style=amp |title=Fossils explained 52 Majestic killers: the sabre-toothed cats |journal=Geology Today |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=150 |date=July 2006 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2451.2006.00572.x|s2cid=128960196 }} 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,{{cite book |last1=Werdelin |first1=L. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Johnson |first3=W. E. |last4=O'Brien |first4=S. J. |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae) |year=2010 |pages=59–82 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142 |editor1-last=Macdonald |editor1-first=D. W. |editor2-last=Loveridge |editor2-first=A. J. |title=Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-923445-5}} although this was challenged in 2020, 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.{{cite journal |author1=Xiaoming Wang |author2=Stuart C. White |author3=Jian Guan |year=2020 |title=A new genus and species of sabretooth, Oriensmilus liupanensis (Barbourofelinae, Nimravidae, Carnivora), from the middle Miocene of China suggests barbourofelines are nimravids, not felids |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=18 |issue= 9|pages= 783–803|doi=10.1080/14772019.2019.1691066 |s2cid=211545222 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0g62362j |url-access=subscription }}

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.{{cite journal |author=Michael Morlo |title=New remains of Barbourofelidae from the Miocene of Southern Germany: implications for the history of barbourid migrations |journal=Beiträge zur Paläontologie, Wien |volume=30 |pages=339–346 |year=2006 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233791187}} While the genus Sansanosmilus evolved in Europe, A. jourdani also migrated through Eurasia and reached North America by the late Miocene, represented there by the genus Barbourofelis and the North American species A. whitfordi.

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,{{cite journal |last1=Pilgrim |first1=G.E.|date=1932 |title=The fossil Carnivora of India |url= |journal=Mem. Geol. Sur. Ind. Palaeont. Ind. |series=New Series |volume=18 |issue= |pages=1–232 |doi= |access-date=}} and a third species from the same area and of similarly fragmentary nature, Sivasmilus copei, was described by Miklos Kretzoi in 1929.{{Cite journal|last1=Kretzoi|first1=M.|date=1929|title=Materialen zur phylogenetischen Klassifikation der Aeluroideen|journal=Cong. Int. Zool. Budapest|volume=10|pages=1293–1355}} Sansanosmilus rhomboidalis was described further, with new material assigned, in 2022.{{cite journal |last1= Mahmood|first1= Khalid|title= Barbourofelines from the Middle-Late Miocene of the Siwaliks, Pakistan|url= |journal= Pakistan Journal of Zoology|year= 2023|volume= |issue= |pages= |doi= 10.17582/journal.pjz/20221013201049|s2cid= 257513528|access-date=|doi-access= free}}

A much older species, Oriensmilus liupanensis, was described in 2020. Unlike other older barbourofelids, it was found in China.{{Cite journal|title=A new genus and species of sabretooth, Oriensmilus liupanensis (Barbourofelinae, Nimravidae, Carnivora), from the middle Miocene of China suggests barbourofelines are nimravids, not felids |year=2020 |last1=Wang |first1=Xiaoming |last2=White |first2=Stuart C. |last3=Guan |first3=Jian |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=18 |issue=9 |pages=783–803 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2019.1691066 |s2cid=211545222 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0g62362j |url-access=subscription }}

Another species of Afrosmilini from Africa, Jinomrefu lakwanza, was described in 2020 as well.{{Cite journal|title=A Transitional Mammalian Carnivore Community from the Paleogene–Neogene Boundary in Northern Kenya |year=2020 |last1=Friscia |first1=Anthony R. |last2=Macharwas |first2=Mathew |last3=Muteti |first3=Samuel |last4=Ndiritu |first4=Francis |last5=Tab Rasmussen |first5=D. |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=40 |issue=5 |pages=e1833895 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2020.1833895 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2020.1833895 |bibcode=2020JVPal..40E3895F |s2cid=228844419 |url-access=subscription }} 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.{{cite journal |last1= Werdelin|first1= Lars|title= African Barbourofelinae (Mammalia, Nimravidae): A critical review|url= |journal= Historical Biology|year= 2022|volume= 34|issue= 8|pages= 1347–1355|doi=10.1080/08912963.2021.1998034 |s2cid= 244015910|access-date=}}

• Family †Barbourofelidae
• †Oriensmilus
• †Oriensmilus liupanensis
• †Sivasmilus
• †Sivasmilus copei
• †Vampyrictis
• †Vampyrictis vipera
• Tribe †Afrosmilini
• †Afrosmilus{{cite journal |last1= Morales |first1= J. |last2= Salesa |first2= M.J. |display-authors = etal |date= July 2007 |title= A new tribe, new genus and two new species of Barbourofelinae (Felidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of East Africa and Spain |journal= Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh |volume= 92 |issue= 1 |pages= 97–102 |doi= 10.1017/S0263593300000067|s2cid= 85704378 }}
• †Afrosmilus africanus
• †Afrosmilus hispanicus
• †Afrosmilus turkanae
• †Ginsburgsmilus {{small|(Morales, Salesa, Pickford, & Soria; 2001)}}
• †Ginsburgsmilus napakensis
• †Jinomrefu
• †Jinomrefu lakwanza
• †Prosansanosmilus {{small|(Heizmann, Ginsburg, & Bulot; 1980)}}
• †Prosansanosmilus eggeri
• †Prosansanosmilus peregrinus
• †Syrtosmilus
• †Syrtosmilus syrtensis
• Tribe †Barbourofelini
• †Albanosmilus {{small|(Kretzoi, 1929)}}
• †Albanosmilus jourdani
• †Albanosmilus whitfordi
• †Barbourofelis {{small|(Schultz, Schultz & Martin; 1970)}}
• †Barbourofelis fricki
• †Barbourofelis loveorum
• †Barbourofelis morrisi
• †Barbourofelis piveteaui
• †Sansanosmilus {{small|(Kretzoi, 1929)}}
• †Sansanosmilus palmidens
• †Sansanosmilus rhomboidalis
• †Sansanosmilus serratus

The phylogenetic relationships of Barbourofelidae are shown in the following cladogram:{{Cite journal|title=New craniodental remains of the barbourofelid Albanosmilus jourdani(Filhol, 1883) from the Miocene of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula) and the phylogeny of the Barbourofelini |year=2013 |last1=Robles |first1=Josep M. |last2=Alba |first2=David M. |last3=Fortuny |first3=Josep |last4=Esteban-Trivigno |first4=Soledad De |last5=Rotgers |first5=Cheyenn |last6=Balaguer |first6=Jordi |last7=Carmona |first7=Raül |last8=Galindo |first8=Jordi |last9=Almécija |first9=Sergio |last10=Bertó |first10=Juan V. |last11=Moyà-Solà |first11=Salvador |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=11 |issue=8 |pages=993–1022 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2012.724090 |s2cid=85157737}}{{cite book |last1=Werdelin |first1=L. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Johnson |first3=W. E. |last4=O'Brien |first4=S. J. |chapter=Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae) |year=2010 |pages=59–82 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142 |editor1-last=Macdonald |editor1-first=D. W. |editor2-last=Loveridge |editor2-first=A. J. |title=Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-923445-5}}

{{clade |style=font-size:85%;line-height:90%;

|label1=†Barbourofelidae

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|label1=†Vampyrictis

|1=†Vampyrictis vipera

|label2=†Syrtosmilus

|2=†Syrtosmilus syrtensis

}}

|label2=†Ginsburgsmilus

|2=†Ginsburgsmilus napakensis

|3={{clade

|label1=†Afrosmilini|style1=background-color:#ccccFF;

|1={{clade

|label1=†Afrosmilus

|1={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=†Afrosmilus africanus

|2=†Afrosmilus hispanicus

}}

|2=†Afrosmilus turkanae

}}

|label2=†Prosansanosmilus

|2={{clade

|1=†Prosansanosmilus eggeri

|2=†Prosansanosmilus peregrinus

}} }}

|label2=†Barbourofelini|style2=background-color:#ccFFcc;

|2={{clade

|label1=†Sansanosmilus

|1=†Sansanosmilus palmidens

|2={{clade

|label1=†Albanosmilus

|1={{clade

|1=†Albanosmilus jourdani

|2=†Albanosmilus whitfordi

}}

|label2=†Barbourofelis

|2={{clade

|1=†Barbourofelis loveorum

|2={{clade

|1=†Barbourofelis morrisi

|2=†Barbourofelis fricki

|3=†Barbourofelis piveteaui

}} }} }} }} }} }} }}

{{Reflist}}

{{Barbourofelidae}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q132657}}

Category:Miocene carnivorans

Category:Prehistoric mammal families

Category:Miocene first appearances