Viverravidae

Viverravidae ("ancestors of viverrids") is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia.^[5][6][7] They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives (a plesion-group) to extant carnivorans.^[8][9]

General characteristics

Wang and Tedford propose that they arose in North America 66-60 million years ago, spread to Asia then later to Europe, and were the first carnivoramorphans and possessed the first true pair of carnassial teeth.^[10] In viverravids, the skull is elongated and the number of molars is reduced to two (M1/m1 and M2/m2 are present and M3/m3 are absent).

Classification and phylogeny

Classification

Taxonomy retrieved from the Paleobiology Database^[11]

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of family Viverravidae are shown in the following cladogram:^{[3][12][13][14][15]}

Carnivoramorpha

Carnivoraformes

?

†Carnivoramorpha sp. (UALVP 31176)

?

†Carnivoramorpha sp. (USNM 538395)

?

†"Sinopa" insectivorus

†Viverravidae ?

†Ravenictis

?

†Carnivoramorpha sp. (UALVP 50993 & UALVP 50994)

†Viverravoidea †Viverravidae †Pappictidops

†Pappictidops acies

†Pappictidops obtusus

†Pappictidops orientalis

†Orientictis

†Orientictis spanios

†Preonictis

†Preonictis youngi

†Variviverra

†Variviverra vegetatus

†Ictidopappinae †Ictidopappus

†Ictidopappus mustelinus

†Viverravinae †Viverravus

†Viverravus minutus

†Viverravus sicarius

†Viverravus sp. (Locality Group 2, Washakie Basin, Wyoming)

†Viverravus gracilis

†Viverravus lutosus

†Viverravus acutus

†Viverravus rosei

†Viverravus laytoni

?

†Viverravus sp. (V11141)

†Viverravus lawsoni

†Viverravus politus

†Viverriscus

†Viverriscus omnivorus

†Simpsonictis

†Simpsonictis jaynanneae

†Simpsonictis pegus

†Simpsonictis tenuis

?

†Viverravidae sp. (CM 71188 & CM 71189)

†Didymictinae †Bryanictis

†Bryanictis microlestes

†Bryanictis paulus

†Bryanictis terlinguae

†Intyrictis

†Intyrictis vanvaleni

†Protictis

†Protictis haydenianus

†Protictis minor

†Protictis simpsoni

†Raphictis

†Raphictis gausion

†Raphictis iota

†Raphictis machaera

†Raphictis nanoptexis

†Protictis paralus

†Protictis agastor

†(Protictoides)

†Protictis aprophatos

†Pristinictis

†Pristinictis connata

?

†"Deltatherium" durini

†Didymictis

†Didymictis dellensis

†Didymictis proteus

?

†Didymictis sp. (Erquelinnes, Hainaut, Belgium)

†Didymictis altidens

†Didymictis leptomylus

†Didymictis protenus

†Didymictis vancleveae

sensu stricto sensu lato

See also

• Mammal classification
• Carnivoramorpha
• Miacoidea

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Viverravidae&oldid=1139625305"