Editing Carnivora (section)

===Evolution===
[[Image:Tapocyon robustus.jpg|thumb|Life reconstruction of ''[[Tapocyon]] robustus'', a species of [[Miacidae|miacid]]]]

The order Carnivora belongs to a group of mammals known as [[Laurasiatheria]], which also includes other groups such as [[bat]]s and [[ungulate]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Waddell | first1 = Peter J.| last2 = Okada | first2 = Norihiro| last3 = Hasegawa | first3 = Masami| doi = 10.1093/sysbio/48.1.1 | title = Towards Resolving the Interordinal Relationships of Placental Mammals | journal = [[Systematic Biology]] | volume = 48 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–5 | year = 1999 | pmid = 12078634| doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name=Tsagkogeorga2013>{{cite journal |last1=Tsagkogeorga |first1=G |last2=Parker |first2=J |last3=Stupka |first3=E |last4=Cotton |first4=J.A. |last5=Rossiter |first5=S.J. |year=2013 |title=Phylogenomic analyses elucidate the evolutionary relationships of bats |journal=Current Biology |volume=23 |issue=22 |pages=2262–2267 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2013.09.014 |pmid=24184098|doi-access=free |bibcode=2013CBio...23.2262T }}</ref> Within this group the carnivorans are placed in the clade [[Ferae]]. Ferae includes the closest extant relative of carnivorans, the [[pangolin]]s, as well as several extinct groups of mostly [[Paleogene]] carnivorous placentals such as the [[Creodonta|creodont]]s, the [[arctocyonia]]ns, and [[Mesonychia|mesonychian]]s.<ref name="HallidayUpchurch2015">{{cite journal|last1=Halliday|first1=Thomas J. D.|last2=Upchurch|first2=Paul|last3=Goswami|first3=Anjali|title=Resolving the relationships of Paleocene placental mammals|journal=Biological Reviews|volume=92|issue=1|year=2015|pages=521–550|issn=1464-7931|doi=10.1111/brv.12242|pmid=28075073|url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1473028/1/Halliday_et_al-Biological_Reviews.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1473028/1/Halliday_et_al-Biological_Reviews.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|pmc=6849585}}</ref> The creodonts were originally thought of as the sister taxon to the carnivorans, perhaps even ancestral to, based on the presence of the [[Carnassial|carnassial teeth]],<ref>{{cite book | last = McKenna | first = M. C. | date = 1975 | chapter = Toward a phylogenetic classification of the Mammalia | pages = 21–46 | editor1-first = W. P. | editor1-last = Luckett | editor2-first = F. S. | editor2-last = Szalay | title = Phylogeny of the Primates | publisher = Plenum | location = New York }}</ref> but the nature of the carnassial teeth is different between the two groups. In carnivorans, the carnassials are positioned near the front of the molar row, while in the creodonts, they are positioned near the back of the molar row,<ref>{{cite book|first1=George A.|last1=Feldhamer|first2=Lee C.|last2=Drickamer|first3=Stephen H.|last3=Vessey|first4=Joseph F.|last4=Merritt|first5=Carey|last5=Krajewski|title=Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, Ecology|location=Baltimore|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2015|page=[https://archive.org/details/mammalogyadaptat03edunse/page/356 356]|isbn=978-0801886959|url=https://archive.org/details/mammalogyadaptat03edunse/page/356}}</ref> and this suggests a separate evolutionary history and an order-level distinction.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Alan|last1=Turner|first2=Mauricio|last2=Antón|title=Evolving Eden: An Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large-Mammal Fauna|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2004|page=77|isbn=978-0-231-11944-3}}</ref> In addition, phylogenetic analysis suggests that creodonts are more closely related to pangolins while mesonychians might be the sister group to carnivorans and their stem-relatives.<ref name="HallidayUpchurch2015"/>

The closest stem-carnivorans are the [[Miacoidea|miacoid]]s. The miacoids include the families [[Viverravidae]] and [[Miacidae]], and together the Carnivora and Miacoidea form the stem-clade [[Carnivoramorpha]]. The miacoids were small, genet-like carnivoramorphs that occupy a variety of niches such as terrestrial and arboreal habitats. Studies have shown that while viverravids are a monophyletic basal group, the miacids are paraphyletic with respect to Carnivora (as shown in the phylogeny below).<ref name = Bryant2004>Bryant, H.N., and M. Wolson (2004) [https://web.archive.org/web/20080706090739/http://www.ohiou.edu/phylocode/IPNM.pdf "Phylogenetic Nomenclature of Carnivoran Mammals."] ''First International Phylogenetic Nomenclature Meeting''. Paris, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle</ref><ref name = asdff>{{cite book |author1=John J. Flynn |author2=John A. Finarelli |author3=Michelle Spaulding |year=2010 |chapter=Phylogeny of the Carnivora and Carnivoramorpha, and the use of the fossil record to enhance understanding of evolutionary transformations |editor1=Anjali Goswami |editor2=Anthony Friscia |title=Carnivoran evolution. New views on phylogeny, form and function |url=https://archive.org/details/carnivoranevolut00gosw |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/carnivoranevolut00gosw/page/n40 25]–63 |isbn=9781139193436 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139193436.003}}</ref>

Carnivoramorpha as a whole first appeared in the [[Paleocene]] of North America about 60&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name=Polly>{{cite journal | author = Polly, David, Gina D. Wesley-Hunt, Ronald E. Heinrich, Graham Davis and Peter Houde | year = 2006 | title = Earliest known carnivoran auditory bulla and support for a recent origin of crown-clade carnivora (Eutheria, Mammalia) | journal = Palaeontology | volume = 49 | issue = 5 | pages = 1019–1027 | doi = 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00586.x | doi-access = free }}</ref> Crown carnivorans first appeared around 42&nbsp;million years ago in the [[Middle Eocene]].<ref name=Heinrich2008>{{cite journal |author=Heinrich, R.E. |author2=Strait, S.G. |author3=Houde, P. |date=January 2008 |title=Earliest Eocene Miacidae (Mammalia: Carnivora) from northwestern Wyoming |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=82 |issue=1 |pages=154–162 |doi=10.1666/05-118.1|bibcode=2008JPal...82..154H |s2cid=35030667 }}</ref> Their molecular phylogeny shows the extant Carnivora are a [[monophyletic]] group, the [[crown group]] of the [[Carnivoramorpha]].<ref name="Eizirik, E. 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Eizirik |first1=E. |last2=Murphy |first2=W.J. |last3=Koepfli |first3=K.P. |last4=Johnson |first4=W.E. |last5=Dragoo |first5=J.W. |last6=O'Brien |first6=S.J. |date=July 2010 |title=Pattern and timing of the diversification of the mammalian order Carnivora inferred from multiple nuclear gene sequences |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=56 |issue= 1|pages=49–63 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.033 |pmid=20138220|pmc=7034395 |bibcode=2010MolPE..56...49E }}</ref> From there carnivorans have split into two clades based on the composition of the bony structures that surround the middle ear of the skull, the cat-like [[Feliformia|feliform]]s and the dog-like [[Caniformia|caniform]]s.<ref name="WangTedford2008">{{cite book | last1 = Wang | first1 = X. | last2 = Tedford | first2 = R. H. | year = 2008 | title = Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History| publisher = Columbia University Press |location = New York | pages = 1–232 |isbn = 978-0-231-13529-0}}</ref> In feliforms, the auditory bullae are double-chambered, composed of two bones joined by a [[septum]]. Caniforms have single-chambered or partially divided auditory bullae, composed of a single bone.<ref name="Ewer1973">{{cite book |author=R. F. Ewer |title=The Carnivores |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IETMd3-lSlkC |year=1973 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-8493-6}}</ref> Initially, the early representatives of carnivorans were small as the creodonts (specifically, the oxyaenids) and mesonychians dominated the apex predator niches during the Eocene, but in the Oligocene, carnivorans became a dominant group of apex predators with the [[Nimravidae|nimravids]], and by the [[Miocene]] most of the extant carnivoran families have diversified and become the primary terrestrial predators in the Northern Hemisphere.