Editing Dinofelis

{{Short description|Extinct genus of carnivores}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|fossil_range           = {{geological range|5|1.2|[[Pliocene]]-[[Pleistocene]]}}
|image                  = Dinofelis15DB.jpg
|image_caption          = Restoration of ''D.  barlowi''
|taxon                  = Dinofelis
|authority              = [[Otto Zdansky|Zdansky]], 1924
|type_species           = ''Dinofelis cristata''
|type_species_authority = (Falconer & Cautley, 1836)
|subdivision_ranks      = Other species
|subdivision            =
* †''Dinofelis aronoki'' {{small|Werdelin & Lewis, 2001}}
* †''Dinofelis barlowi'' {{small|(Broom, 1937)}}
* †''Dinofelis darti'' {{small|(Toerien, 1955)}}
* †''Dinofelis diastemata'' {{small|(Astre, 1929)}}
* †''Dinofelis paleoonca'' {{small|(Meade, 1945)}}
* †''Dinofelis petteri'' {{small|Werdelin & Lewis, 2001}}
* †''Dinofelis piveteaui'' {{small|(Ewer, 1955)}}
* †''Dinofelis werdelini'' {{small|Jiangzuo ''et al.'', 2023}}
|synonyms               =
'''''Dinofelis'''''
* ''Therailurus''
'''''D. cristata'''''
* ''Felis cristata'' {{small|Falconer & Cautley, 1836}}
* ''Felis grandicristata'' {{small|Bose, 1880}}
* ''Uncia cristata'' {{small|Cope, 1880}}
* ''Uncia grandicristata'' {{small|Cope, 1880}}
* ''Dinofelis abeli'' {{small|Zdansky, 1924}}
'''''D. diastemata'''''
* ''Felis diastemata'' {{small|Astre, 1929}}
* ''Therailurus diastemata'' {{small|Piveteau, 1948}}
}}

'''''Dinofelis''''' is an extinct genus of [[machairodontine]] (sabre-toothed cat), usually classified in the tribe [[Metailurini]]. It was widespread in [[Europe]], [[Asia]], [[Africa]] and [[North America]] from 5 million to about 1.2 million years ago (early [[Pliocene]] to early [[Pleistocene]]). Fossils very similar to ''Dinofelis'' from [[Lothagam]] range back to around 8 million years ago, in the [[Late Miocene]].<ref name="Werdelin2001">{{Citation |last1=Werdelin |first1=Lars |last2=Lewis |first2=Margaret E. |name-list-style=amp |year=2001 |title=A revision of the genus ''Dinofelis'' (Mammalia, Felidae) |journal=[[Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society]] |volume=132 |issue=2 |pages=147–258 |doi=10.1006/zjls.2000.0260|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=Sabertooth>{{Cite book|last=Anton |first=Mauricio |title=Sabertooth |date=2013}}</ref><ref name=SmallDinofelis>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107028 |title=First small-sized Dinofelis: Evidence from the Plio-Pleistocene of North Africa |date=2021 |last1=Madurell-Malapeira |first1=Joan |last2=Rodríguez-Hidalgo |first2=Antonio |last3=Aouraghe |first3=Hassan |last4=Haddoumi |first4=Hamid |last5=Lucenti |first5=Saverio Bartolini |last6=Oujaa |first6=Aïcha |last7=Saladié |first7=Palmira |last8=Bengamra |first8=Said |last9=Marín |first9=Juan |last10=Souhir |first10=Mohamed |last11=Farkouch |first11=Mourad |last12=Mhamdi |first12=Hicham |last13=Aissa |first13=Al Mahdi |last14=Werdelin |first14=Lars |last15=Chacón |first15=M. Gema |last16=Sala-Ramos |first16=Robert |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=265 |bibcode=2021QSRv..26507028M |s2cid=237702164 |url=https://ddd.uab.cat/record/244088 }}</ref>

==Discovery and naming==
The genus ''Dinofelis'' was originally named by [[Otto Zdansky]] in 1924 for the species ''Dinofelis abeli''.<ref name="Werdelin2001"/>

Further fossil species were named, including ''Felis diastemata'' and ''Meganthereon barlowi'', which were later transferred to the genus ''Therailurus'', which was in turn later considered a junior synonym of ''Dinofelis''.<ref name="Werdelin2001"/>

A comprehensive review of the genus was published in 2001 by paleontologists [[Lars Werdelin]] and Margaret E. Lewis, including mentions of the then-unnamed Langebaanweg and Lothagam species, as well as naming a new species ''Dinofelis aronoki''; the species epithet came from the phrase ''arono ki'' which, in the language of the people of eastern Turkana, means "it was terrible". The review also noted six different sets of remains that were referable to ''Dinofelis'' but were too fragmentary to assign to any one species.<ref name="Werdelin2001"/>

Another unnamed (again, due to fragmentary material) species was described in 2021, based on fossils from a Plio-Pleistocene site in Northern Africa.<ref name=SmallDinofelis/>

In 2023, the Langebaanweg species was described as ''Dinofelis werdelini''; the specific epithet honored Lars Werdelin. It assigned a holotype, paratype, and nine other specimens of fragmentary cranial material (some of which had previously been referred to other species) to the newly-named species.<ref name="Jiangzuo2023"/>

==Description==
This genus varied in size, with a similar range of sizes to ''[[Panthera]]''. In one study, the body mass of ''Dinofelis'' was estimated at {{Convert|149|kg|lb|abbr=on|sigfig=2}}, though species with similar dimensions to large lynx or small pumas also existed.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Legendre |first1=Serge |last2=Roth |first2=Claudia |name-list-style=amp |year=1988 |title=Correlation of carnassial tooth size and body weight in recent carnivores (Mammalia) |journal=Historical Biology |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=85–98 |doi=10.1080/08912968809386468|bibcode=1988HBio....1...85L }}</ref><ref name=SmallDinofelis/>

The [[canine teeth]] of ''Dinofelis'' are longer and more flattened than those of modern [[Felidae|cats]] but less than those of other [[saber-toothed cat|saber-tooths]]{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}. While the lower canines are robust, the [[carnassial|cheek teeth]] are not as robust as those of most modern big cats.<ref name="Turner1997">{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Alan |last2=Antón |first2=Mauricio |year=1997 |title=The Big Cats and their fossil relatives |url=https://archive.org/details/bigcatstheirfoss00turn |url-access=limited |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bigcatstheirfoss00turn/page/n58 41]–43 |isbn=0-231-10228-3}}</ref>

''Dinofelis werdelini'' was a medium-sized machairodontine, about the size of a large jaguar, with robust upper canines and relatively small cheek teeth.<ref name="Jiangzuo2023"/>

==Classification==
The phylogenetic status of ''Dinofelis'' within [[Machairodontinae]] has been difficult to ascertain historically, and various positions within [[Felidae]] have been proposed for the genus.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Potapova |first1=E. G. |last2=Lavrov |first2=A. V. |title=Morphology of the auditory region of the skull in Dinofelis sp. (Felidae, Canivora) |journal=Paleontological Journal |date=2015 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=190–199 |doi=10.1134/S0031030115020082|bibcode=2015PalJ...49..190P |s2cid=83550140 }}</ref> It has commonly been recovered as belonging to the tribe [[Metailurini]],<ref name="Werdelin2001"/><ref name=SmallDinofelis/> although one recent analysis contested the monophyly of Metailurini, placing ''Dinofelis'' as a sister taxon to ''[[Rhizosmilodon]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jiangzuo |first1=Qigao |last2=Werdelin |first2=Lars |last3=Sun |first3=Yuanlin |title=A dwarf sabertooth cat (Felidae: Machairodontinae) from Shanxi, China, and the phylogeny of the sabertooth tribe Machairodontini |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |date=15 May 2022 |volume=284 |pages=107517 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107517 |bibcode=2022QSRv..28407517J |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379122001482 |issn=0277-3791}}</ref>

A number of species are currently accepted in the genus:<ref name="Werdelin2001"/>
* ''Dinofelis aronoki'': It lived in the [[Villafranchian]] and Biharian stage in [[Kenya]] and [[Ethiopia]]. Recently split from ''D. barlowi'', it is the largest known species of ''Dinofelis''.
* ''Dinofelis barlowi'': It lived from the late Pliocene to the early Pleistocene. Geographically, found in [[Europe]], [[North America]] and [[Asia]] but mainly in [[Africa]]. It was 70&nbsp;cm high, probably the smallest species of ''Dinofelis''.
* ''Dinofelis cristata'': Known from [[China]], this species is especially convergent with the genus ''[[Panthera]]'' in its skull and particularly canine morphology, suggesting more pantherine-like hunting behaviour than other machairodonts. (Includes ''D. abeli''.)
* ''Dinofelis darti'': It lived in South Africa during the Villafranchian stage.
* ''Dinofelis diastemata'': This species is known from the early Pliocene of Europe.
* ''Dinofelis paleoonca'': Its type locality is Meade's Quarry 11, which is in a Blancan terrestrial horizon in the Blanco Formation of Texas.<ref>{{Cite journal |author1=G. E. Meade |date=1945 |title=The Blanco Fauna |journal=University of Texas Publication |volume=4401 |pages=509–556}}</ref> It was recombined as ''Dinofelis palaeoonca'' by Kurten (1972), Hemmer (1973), Dalquest (1975), Kurten and Anderson (1980), Schultz (1990) and Werdelin and Lewis (2001).
* ''Dinofelis petteri'': Known from the Pliocene of East Africa
* ''Dinofelis piveteaui'': The latest known species of ''Dinofelis'', lived in South Africa during the early Pleistocene. This species has the most pronounced sabertoothed adaptations of the genus.
* ''Dinofelis werdelini'': Known from Langebaanweg in Africa, from the Pliocene.<ref name="Jiangzuo2023">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.isci.2023.107212 |title=Langebaanweg's sabertooth guild reveals an African Pliocene evolutionary hotspot for sabertooths (Carnivora; Felidae) |year=2023 |last1=Jiangzuo |first1=Qigao |last2=Rabe |first2=Caitlin |last3=Abella |first3=Juan |last4=Govender |first4=Romala |last5=Valenciano |first5=Alberto |journal=iScience |volume=26 |issue=8 |page=107212 |pmid=37609637 |pmc=10440717 |bibcode=2023iSci...26j7212J |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Additional fossils from Lothagam (specifically the [[Nawata Formation]] and the [[Apak Member]] of the [[Nachukui Formation]]) are considered to represent another, unnamed species; one smaller and more primitive than other known species.<ref name="Werdelin2001"/>

A major review of ''Dinofelis'' by Werdelin ''et al.'' in 2001 produced a cladogram of its species:<ref name="Werdelin2001"/>

{{clade |style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%;
  |label1='''''Dinofelis'''''
  |1={{clade
     |1=''Dinofelis'' sp. (Lothagam)
     |2={{clade
        |1=''Dinofelis diastemata''
        |2={{clade
           |1=''Dinofelis cristata''
           |2={{clade
              |1=''Dinofelis petteri''
              |2=''Dinofelis barlowi''
              }}
           |3=''Dinofelis palaeoonca''
           }}
        |3={{clade
           |1=''Dinofelis aronoki''
           |2=''Dinofelis piveteaui''
           }}
        }}
     }}
}}

The 2023 paper that named ''D. werdelini'' found it to be a sister to a clade formed by ''D. cristatus'', ''D. petteri'', ''D. piveteaui'', and ''D. barlowi'', but did not test it against the rest of the genus.<ref name="Jiangzuo2023"/>

{{clade |style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%;
  |label1='''''Dinofelis'''''
  |1={{clade
     |1=''Dinofelis werdelini''
     |2={{clade
        |1=''Dinofelis cristatus''
        |2={{clade
           |1=''Dinofelis piveteaui''
           |2={{clade
              |1=''Dinofelis barlowi''
              |2=''Dinofelis petteri''
              }}
           }}
        }}
     }}
}}

''Dinofelis''{{'}} position amongst the Metailurini per a 2018 phylogenetic analysis:<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.034 |title=Evolution of the sabertooth mandible: A deadly ecomorphological specialization |date=2018 |last1=Piras |first1=Paolo |last2=Silvestro |first2=Daniele |last3=Carotenuto |first3=Francesco |last4=Castiglione |first4=Silvia |last5=Kotsakis |first5=Anastassios |last6=Maiorino |first6=Leonardo |last7=Melchionna |first7=Marina |last8=Mondanaro |first8=Alessandro |last9=Sansalone |first9=Gabriele |last10=Serio |first10=Carmela |last11=Vero |first11=Veronica Anna |last12=Raia |first12=Pasquale |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=496 |pages=166–174 |bibcode=2018PPP...496..166P |hdl=2158/1268434 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

{{clade
|label1=[[Metailurini]]
|1={{clade
  |1=''[[Fortunictis]] acerensis''
  |2=''[[Adelphailurus]] kansensis''
  |3=''[[Stenailurus]] tielhardi''
  |4={{clade
     |1=''[[Metailurus]] mongoliensis''
     |2=''Metailurus hengduanshanensis''
     |3=''Metailurus obscurus''
     |4=''Metailurus major''
     |5={{clade
        |1=''[[Yoshi (genus)|Yoshi]] minor''
        |2=''Yoshi garevskii''
        }}
      }}
  |label5='''''Dinofelis'''''
  |5={{clade
     |1=''Dinofelis diastemata''
     |2={{clade
        |1=''Dinofelis darti''
        |2={{clade
           |1=''Dinofelis piveteaui''
           |2=''Dinofelis aronoki''
           }}
        |3=''Dinofelis barlowi''
        |4=''Dinofelis petteri''
        |5=''Dinofelis paleoonca''
        |6=''Dinofelis cristata''
        }}
     }}
  }}
}}

==Paleobiology==
Morphometric analysis of ''Dinofelis'' specimens from Olduvai Gorge suggests that the felid was best suited for mixed habitats rather than open grasslands or closed woodlands.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Meloro |first1=Carlo |last2=Elton |first2=Sarah |last3=Louys |first3=Julien |last4=Bishop |first4=Laura C. |last5=Ditchfield |first5=Peter |date=18 March 2013 |title=Cats in the forest: predicting habitat adaptations from humerus morphometry in extant and fossil Felidae (Carnivora) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/abs/cats-in-the-forest-predicting-habitat-adaptations-from-humerus-morphometry-in-extant-and-fossil-felidae-carnivora/AB965A6E897A798DFE053AE125CDF730 |journal=[[Paleobiology (journal)|Paleobiology]] |language=en |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=323–344 |doi=10.1666/12001 |bibcode=2013Pbio...39..323M |issn=0094-8373 |access-date=21 January 2024 |via=Cambridge Core}}</ref>

Analysis of carbon isotope ratios in specimens from [[Swartkrans]] indicates that ''Dinofelis'' preferentially hunted grazing animals. The main predators of [[Hominidae|hominids]] in the environment at that time were most likely [[leopards]] and fellow machairodont ''[[Megantereon]]'', whose carbon isotope ratios showed more indication of preying on hominids.<ref name="maropeng.co.za">{{cite web |url=http://www.maropeng.co.za/news/entry/dinofelis_hominid_hunter_or_misunderstood_feline |title=Dinofelis – hominid hunter or misunderstood feline? |website=www.maropeng.co.za}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lee-Thorp |first1=Julia |last2=Thackeray |first2=J. Francis |last3=van der Merwe |first3=Nikolaas |date=2000 |title=The hunters and the hunted revisited |url=https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0436 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=39 |issue=6 |pages=565–576 |doi=10.1006/jhev.2000.0436 |pmid=11102267 |bibcode=2000JHumE..39..565L |issn=0047-2484}}</ref>

Several sites from South Africa seem to show ''Dinofelis'' may have hunted and killed ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'', since the finds mingle fossilized remains of ''Dinofelis'', hominids, and other large contemporary animals{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}.  In South Africa, ''Dinofelis'' remains have been found near ''[[Paranthropus]]'' fossil skulls, a few with precisely spaced canine holes in their crania, so it is possible ''Dinofelis'' preyed on robust hominids as well. This may have been rare, however, as carbon isotope ratios contradict this.<ref name="maropeng.co.za" />

It is thought that the gradual disappearance of its forest environment may have contributed to ''Dinofelis''{{'}} extinction at the start of the [[ice age]]{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}.
<!--==Paleoenvironment==-->

==References==
{{Commons category|Dinofelis}}
{{Portal|Paleontology|Prehistoric mammals}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Machairodontinae}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q133364|from2=Q107398116|from3=Q120431689|from4=Q2715753|from5=Q120431969|from6=Q120432052|from7=Q5278583|from8=Q120432108|from9=Q120432171|from10=Q122041550}}

[[Category:Metailurini]]
[[Category:Pliocene carnivorans]]
[[Category:Pleistocene carnivorans]]
[[Category:Pliocene first appearances]]
[[Category:Pleistocene genus extinctions]]
[[Category:Pliocene mammals of Asia]]
[[Category:Pliocene mammals of Europe]]
[[Category:Pliocene mammals of Africa]]
[[Category:Pliocene mammals of North America]]
[[Category:Pleistocene mammals of Asia]]
[[Category:Pleistocene mammals of Europe]]
[[Category:Pleistocene mammals of Africa]]
[[Category:Pleistocene mammals of North America]]
[[Category:Prehistoric carnivoran genera]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1924]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Otto Zdansky]]