Saber-tooth Evolutionary Tree
All saber-tooth mammals lived between 33.7 million and 9,000 years ago, but the evolutionary lines that led to the various saber-tooth genera started to diverge much earlier. It is thus a polyphyletic grouping.
The lineage that led to Thylacosmilus was the first to split off, in the late Cretaceous. It is a marsupial, and thus more closely related to kangaroos and opossums than the felines. The creodonts diverged next, and then the nimravids, before the blossoming of the truly feline saber-tooths.
- Class Mammalia
- Subclass Marsupialia (diverged ?, in the Cretaceous)
- Order †Sparassodonta (an extinct group of marsupial carnivores)
- Family †Borhyaenidae
- Family †Thylacosmilidae
- †Patagosmilus
- †Anachlysictis
- †Thylacosmilus
- Order †Sparassodonta (an extinct group of marsupial carnivores)
- Subclass Placentalia
- Order †Creodonta (diverged ?, in the Paleocene)
- Family †Hyaenodontidae
- †Hyaenodon
- †Boualitomus
- †Laekitherium
- †Metapterodon
- †Triacodon
- †Parvagula
- †Machaeroides
- Family †Hyaenodontidae
- Order Carnivora
- Family †Nimravidae (diverged from the feliforms 48–55 Ma BP, in the late Eocene)
- Subfamily †Nimravinae (Dinictis)
- Subfamily †Hoplophoninae
- Suborder Feliformia ('cat-like' carnivores)
- Family †Barbourofelidae (sister taxa to Felidae)
- Family Felidae (true cats)
- Subfamily †Machairodontinae (diverged ?, in the ?)
- Tribe †Homotherini
- †Homotherium
- †Machairodus
- †Xenosmilus
- Tribe †Metailurini
- †Dinofelis
- †Metailurus
- Tribe †Smilodontini
- †Megantereon
- †Paramachairodus
- †Smilodon
- Tribe †Homotherini
- Subfamily †Machairodontinae (diverged ?, in the ?)
- Family †Nimravidae (diverged from the feliforms 48–55 Ma BP, in the late Eocene)
- Order †Creodonta (diverged ?, in the Paleocene)
- Subclass Marsupialia (diverged ?, in the Cretaceous)
Read more about this topic: Saber-toothed Cats
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