| Pratifelis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Felinae |
| Genus: | †Pratifelis Hibbard, 1934 |
| Type species | |
| †Pratifelis martini Hibbard, 1934 | |
| Synonyms | |
Pseudaelurus martinisensu Macdonald, 1954 | |
Pratifelis is an extinct genus offeline that lived inNorth America during the middleMiocene period. It contains a single species,Pratifelis martini.
In the summer of 1911, the first and only specimen was collected by H. T. Martin inWallace County, Kansas. It was transported to the University of Kansas Museum of Vertebrate Paleontology, where it was named and described by paleontologistClaude W. Hibbard as a new genus and species of felid in 1934. The generic namePratifelis comes from theLatin wordspratum meaning field or plain, andfelis, meaning cat. The specific namemartini was given in honor of H. T. Martin.[1]
In a 1954 paper J. R. Macdonald reassigned the species to the genusPseudaelurus,[2] but later papers maintained its status as a distinct and valid genus.[3][4]
The single specimen upon which both the genus and species were based, UKMNH 3156, is a partial lower left ramus with only the third and fourth premolars and the first molar present. It has been noted for having fairly heavy dentition considering how light its jaw was.[5]
P. martini was a short-faced cat, likely bigger than the moderncougar.[5]
In his description of the genus and species, Hibbard classifiedPratifelis as a primitive member ofFelidae, the cat family.[1] L. D. Martin, in 1998, considered it part of the small cat subfamilyFelinae.[6]
A 2003 paper byTom Rothwell, who had seen casts of the specimen, mentioned in passing that it had some similarity to specimens ofNimravides, and that an examination of the original specimen might result in a reassignment to that genus.[7] And a 2018 phylogenetic analysis recoveredPratifelis martini withinNimravides:[8]
| Felidae | |||||||||||||||||||
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