| Viverravidae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Clade: | Carnivoramorpha |
| Superfamily: | †Viverravoidea Wortman & Matthew, 1899 |
| Family: | †Viverravidae Wortman & Matthew 1899[1] |
| Genera | |
| Synonyms | |
Didymictidae[2] | |
TheViverravidae are an extinctfamily of early mammaliancarnivores. They are in the superfamilyMiacoidea, and lived from the earlyPalaeocene to theEocene. They first appeared in the Paleocene ofNorth America about 60 million years ago.
Viverravidae is amonophyletic family. In viverravids, the number ofmolars is reduced to two and theskull is long.
They are probably not related to any living carnivorans.[3] The viverravids were previously thought to be the earliest carnivorans. A recent study of their skullmorphology puts them outside the orderCarnivora.[4]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)