Editing Homotherium (section)

== Evolution ==
The lineage of ''Homotherium'' is estimated (based on [[mitochondrial DNA]] sequences) to have diverged from that of ''[[Smilodon]]'' about 18 million years ago.<ref name="Paijmans2017">{{cite journal |last1=Paijmans |first1=Johanna L.A. |last2=Barnett |first2=Ross |last3=Gilbert |first3=M. Thomas P. |last4=Zepeda-Mendoza |first4=M. Lisandra |last5=Reumer |first5=Jelle W.F. |last6=de Vos |first6=John |last7=Zazula |first7=Grant |last8=Nagel |first8=Doris |last9=Baryshnikov |first9=Gennady F. |last10=Leonard |first10=Jennifer A. |last11=Rohland |first11=Nadin |last12=Westbury |first12=Michael V. |last13=Barlow |first13=Axel |last14=Hofreiter |first14=Michael |title=Evolutionary History of Saber-Toothed Cats Based on Ancient Mitogenomics |journal=[[Current Biology]] |date=November 2017 |volume=27 |issue=21 |pages=3330–3336.e5 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.033 |pmid=29056454 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2017CBio...27E3330P }}</ref> ''Homotherium'' has been suggested to have originated from African species of the genus ''[[Amphimachairodus]].''<ref name="lihoreau etal 2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Lihoreau |first1=Fabrice |last2=Sarr |first2=Raphaël |last3=Chardon |first3=Domininique |last4=Boisserie |first4=Jean-Renaud |last5=Lebrun |first5=Renaud |last6=Adnet |first6=Sylvain |last7=Martin |first7=Jeremy E. |last8=Pallas |first8=Laurent |last9=Sambou |first9=Bernard |last10=Tabuce |first10=Rodolphe |last11=Thiam |first11=Mohamadou M. |last12=Hautier |first12=Lionel |date=November 2021 |title=A fossil terrestrial fauna from Tobène (Senegal) provides a unique early Pliocene window in western Africa |journal=Gondwana Research |volume=99 |pages=21–35 |bibcode=2021GondR..99...21L |doi=10.1016/j.gr.2021.06.013 |doi-access=free}}</ref> ''Homotherium'' first appeared during the Early [[Pliocene]], about 4 million years ago, with its oldest remains being from the [[Odesa catacombs]] in Ukraine, and [[Koobi Fora]] in Kenya, which are close in age, making the origin location of the genus uncertain. The genus arrived in North America during the late Pliocene (~3.6-2.6 million years ago).<ref name="antón etal 2014">{{Cite journal |last1=Antón |first1=M. |last2=Salesa |first2=M.J. |last3=Galobart |first3=A. |last4=Tseng |first4=Z.J. |date=July 2014 |title=The Plio-Pleistocene scimitar-toothed felid genus Homotherium Fabrini, 1890 (''Machairodontinae'', ''Homotherini''): diversity, palaeogeography and taxonomic implications |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=96 |pages=259–268 |bibcode=2014QSRv...96..259A |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.11.022}}</ref> Remains either attributed to ''Homotherium'' or ''Xenosmilus'' are known from Venezuela in northern South America, of an uncertain Early-Middle Pleistocene age.<ref name="Rincón2011">{{cite journal |last1=Rincón |first1=Ascanio D. |last2=Prevosti |first2=Francisco J. |last3=Parra |first3=Gilberto E. |date=17 March 2011 |title=New saber-toothed cat records (Felidae: Machairodontinae) for the Pleistocene of Venezuela, and the Great American Biotic Interchange |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=468–478 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2011.550366 |bibcode=2011JVPal..31..468R |s2cid=129693331|hdl=11336/69016 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> On the African continent, the genus disappeared about 1.5 million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene.<ref name="Turner">{{cite journal |last1=Turner |first1=Alan |date=1990 |title=The evolution of the guild of larger terrestrial carnivores during the Plio-Pleistocene in Africa |journal=Geobios |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=349–368 |doi=10.1016/0016-6995(90)80006-2|bibcode=1990Geobi..23..349T }}</ref> Across northern and southern China, ''Homotherium'' is thought to have gone extinct sometime during the Middle Pleistocene.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Haiqian |last2=Tong |first2=Haowen |last3=Han |first3=Fei |last4=Dai |first4=Hui |last5=Huang |first5=Wanbo |last6=Jiangzuo |first6=Qigao |last7=Rummy |first7=Paul |last8=Wang |first8=Xunqian |last9=Lin |first9=Yu |last10=Wei |first10=Guangbiao |date=March 2025 |title=Chronological and palaeoecological insights into the Dayakou fauna in Yanjinggou, Chongqing, China: Responses of large mammals to the Early-Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379125000198 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=352 |pages=109199 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109199|bibcode=2025QSRv..35209199H }}</ref> The latest records of ''Homotherium'' in Europe date to the late Middle Pleistocene, around 300-200,000 years ago,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Diedrich |first1=Cajus G. |last2=McFarlane |first2=Donald A. |date=29 April 2017 |title=Homotherium from Middle Pleistocene archaeological and carnivore den sites of Germany – Taxonomy, taphonomy and a revision of the Schöningen, West Runton and other saber-tooth cat sites |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618216304451 |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |language=en |volume=436 |pages=76–83 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.015 |bibcode=2017QuInt.436...76D |access-date=20 July 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> with the exception of a single lower jaw bone from the [[North Sea]] which dates to around 28-30,000 years ago.<ref name="Reumer">{{cite journal |last1=Reumer |first1=Jelle W. F. |last2=Rook |first2=Lorenzo |last3=Van Der Borg |first3=Klaas |last4=Post |first4=Klaas |last5=Mol |first5=Dick |last6=De Vos |first6=John |date=11 April 2003 |title=Late Pleistocene survival of the saber-toothed cat Homotherium in northwestern Europe |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=260–262 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2003)23[260:LPSOTS]2.0.CO;2 |s2cid=140187064}}</ref> It has been suggested that this may represent a Late Pleistocene dispersal from North America, rather than a continuous undocumented occupation of the region.<ref name="Paijmans2017" /> In 2024, a mummy of a ''Homotherium latidens'' cub was reported from the Upper Pleistocene from the [[Badyarikha River]], [[Yakutia]] in northeastern [[Siberia]], dating to 35,471–37,019 years [[Before Present]], marking the first recorded presence of the species in the Late Pleistocene of Asia.<ref name="lopatin etal 2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Lopatin |first1=A. V. |last2=Sotnikova |first2=M. V. |last3=Klimovsky |first3=A. I. |last4=Lavrov |first4=A. V. |last5=Protopopov |first5=A. V. |last6=Gimranov |first6=D. O. |last7=Parkhomchuk |first7=E. V. |date=14 November 2024 |title=Mummy of a juvenile sabre-toothed cat ''Homotherium latidens'' from the Upper Pleistocene of Siberia |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |volume=14 |issue=1 |page=28016 |doi=10.1038/s41598-024-79546-1 |pmid=39543377 |pmc=11564651 |bibcode=2024NatSR..1428016L |issn=2045-2322}}</ref> The youngest well dated remains of ''Homotherium serum'' date to around 12,715–12,655 years Before Present, found in southern [[Alberta]], Canada, at the very end of the Late Pleistocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ewald |first1=Tatyanna |last2=Hills |first2=L.V. |last3=Tolman |first3=Shayne |last4=Kooyman |first4=Brian |date=January 2018 |title=Scimitar cat ( Homotherium serum Cope) from southwestern Alberta, Canada |url=http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/cjes-2017-0130 |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |language=en |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=8–17 |bibcode=2018CaJES..55....8E |doi=10.1139/cjes-2017-0130 |issn=0008-4077 |hdl-access=free |hdl=1807/79756}}</ref> ''Homotherium serum'' became extinct as part of the [[Late Pleistocene extinctions|end-Pleistocene extinction event]] of most large mammals across the Americas.<ref name=":2" />