Nimravides

Nimravides catacopis

• North America

Nimravides is an extinct genus of cats in the middle and late Miocene and the earliest Pliocene of North America. The upper canines were extended. In spite of the scientific name Nimravides the genus does not belong to the family of Nimravidae ( which is named after the genus Nimravus ), but to the cat family ( Felidae ). Earlier species of the genus as Nimravides pedionomus are slightly smaller than about the future quite well-known type Nimravides catacopsis. Nimravides catacopsis reached about the size of a tiger, and very reminiscent of the primitive saber-toothed cat Machairodus aphanistus from the Late Miocene of Eurasia. Both appear to be identical.