Editing Machairodus (section)

==Description==
[[File:Machairodus aphanistus - Cerro de los Batallones - Museo Arqueológico Regional CAM.JPG|left|thumb|''M. aphanistus'' skull]]''M. aphanistus'' from the [[Mediterranean]] late [[Miocene]] was comparable to a tiger in size<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Salesa |first1=Manuel J. |last2=Hernández |first2=Bárbara |last3=Marín |first3=Pilar |last4=Siliceo |first4=Gema |last5=Martínez |first5=Irene |last6=Antón |first6=Mauricio |last7=García-Real |first7=María Isabel |last8=Pastor |first8=Juan Francisco |last9=García-Fernández |first9=Rosa Ana |date=June 2024 |title=New insights on the ecology and behavior of Machairodus aphanistus (Carnivora, Felidae, Machairodontinae) through the paleopathological study of the fossil sample from the Late Miocene (Vallesian, MN 10) of Cerro de los Batallones (Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid, Spain) |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |doi=10.1007/s10914-024-09721-8 |issn=1064-7554|doi-access=free }}</ref> and skeletal proportions, with a mass of {{convert|117-285|kg|lb|abbr=in}}, with an average mass of {{convert|153|kg|lb|abbr=in}}.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Domingo |first1=Laura |last2=Domingo |first2=M. Soledad |last3=Koch |first3=Paul L. |last4=Alberdi |first4=M. Teresa |date=May 10, 2017 |title=Carnivoran resource and habitat use in the context of a Late Miocene faunal turnover episode |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pala.12296 |journal=Palaeontology |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=461-483}}</ref> It was similar to the related ''[[Nimravides]]'' of [[North America]]. The skeleton also indicates that this species would have possessed good jumping abilities.<ref>{{cite book |last=Turner|first=Alan|date=1997 |title=The Big Cats and their fossil relatives |url=https://archive.org/details/bigcatstheirfoss00turn|url-access=limited|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bigcatstheirfoss00turn/page/n62 45] |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231102292}}</ref>

''M. alberdiae'' was contemporary with ''M. aphanistus'' in [[Cerro de los Batallones]] fossil deposits and was smaller and more primitive in anatomical features, and would not have exceeded {{convert|100|kg|lb|abbr=in}}.<ref name="Fernandez-Monesillo2017">{{cite journal |last1=Fernandez-Monescillo |first1=Marcos |last2=Anton |first2=Mauricio |last3=Salesa |first3=Manuel.J |year=2017 |title=Paleoecological implications of the sympatric distribution of two species of ''Machairodus'' (Felidae, Machairodontinae, Homotherini) in the Late Miocene of Los Valles de Fuentidueña (Segovia, Spain) |journal=Historical Biology |volume=31 |issue=7 |pages=903–913 |bibcode=2019HBio...31..903F |doi=10.1080/08912963.2017.1402894 |s2cid=135103217 |hdl-access=free |hdl=11336/57309}}</ref>

Overall, the skull of ''Machairodus'' was noticeably narrow compared with the skulls of [[neontology|extant]] [[Panthera|pantherine]] [[big cat|cat]]s, and the orbits were relatively small. The canines were long, thin and flattened from side to side but broad from front to back like the blade of a knife, as in ''Homotherium''. The front and back edges of the canines were serrated when they first grew, but these serrations were worn down in the first few years of the animal's life. 
[[File:Machairodus aphanistus - Batallones 1 - Museo Arqueológico Regional CAM.JPG|thumb|''M. aphanistus'' skeleton from [[Cerro de los Batallones]]]]