Parailurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of carnivores}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Pliocene|Late Pliocene}}

| image =

| image_caption =

| taxon = Parailurus

| authority = Schlosser, 1899

|type_species=†P. anglicus

|type_species_authority=(Dawkins, 1888)

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

• †P. baikalicus Sotnikova, 2008
• †P. tedfordi Wallace & Lyon, 2022
• †P. anglicus Dawkins, 1888

}}

Parailurus is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. It was about 50% larger than Ailurus (red panda) and lived in the early to late Pliocene Epoch, and its fossils have been found in Europe, North America, and Japan.{{cite book |editor-last1=Goswami |editor-first1=Anjali |editor-last2=Friscia |editor-first2=Anthony |date=July 2010 |title=Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on Phylogeny, Form and Function |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPw0C2i8QXkC&pg=PA118 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=117–119 |isbn=978-0-521-51529-0}}{{cite journal |last1=Fejfar |first1=Oldřich |last2=Sabol |first2=Martin |date=April 2004 |title=Pliocene Carnivores (Carnivora, Mammalia) from Ivanovce and Hajnáčka (Slovakia) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279558711 |journal=Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg |volume=246 |pages=15–53 |access-date=17 March 2023}}

The fossils of P. baikalicus carry low-crowned lower molars, along with the main cuspids of the cheek teeth being worn horizontally. This suggests P. baikalicus commonly ate leaves.{{Cite journal|last1=Ogino|first1=Shintaro|last2=Nakaya|first2=Hideo|last3=Takai|first3=Masanaru|last4=Fukuchi|first4=Akira|last5=Maschenko|first5=Evgeny N.|last6=Kalmykov|first6=Nikolai P.|date=September 30, 2009|title=Mandible and Lower Dentition of Parailurus baikalicus (Ailuridae, Carnivora) from Transbaikal area, Russia|url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2517/1342-8144-13.3.259|journal=Paleontological Research|language=en-US|volume=13|issue=3|pages=259–264|doi=10.2517/1342-8144-13.3.259|s2cid=86244485 |issn=1342-8144|url-access=subscription}}

A third species, Parailurus tedfordi, was described in 2022.{{cite book |last1= Wallace|first1= Steven C.|last2= Lyon|first2= Lauren M.|title= Red Panda|chapter= Systematic revision of the Ailurinae (Mammalia: Carnivora: Ailuridae): With a new species from North America|chapter-url= |year= 2022|volume= |pages= 31–52|doi= 10.1016/B978-0-12-823753-3.00011-9|isbn= 9780128237533|s2cid= 243818007|access-date=}}