7-470: Sabercat is a common name for a subfamily of extinct saber-toothed predators. There are several sports teams named Sabercats , SaberCats or Sabrecats , including: Sabercat Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae (true cats). They were found in Asia , Africa , North America , South America , and Europe , with the earliest species known from
14-586: Is misleading. Machairodonts were not in the same subfamily as tigers, there is no evidence that they had tiger-like coat patterns, and this broad group of animals did not all live or hunt in the same manner as the modern tiger . DNA analysis published in 2005 confirmed and clarified cladistic analysis in showing that the Machairodontinae diverged early from the ancestors of modern cats and are not closely related to any living feline species. The phylogenetic relationships of Machairodontinae are shown in
21-636: Is the middle Miocene Miomachairodus from Africa and Turkey. Until the late Miocene, machairodontines co-existed at several places together with barbourofelids , archaic large carnivores that also bore long sabre-teeth. Traditionally, three different tribes of machairodontines were recognized, the Smilodontini with typical dirk-toothed forms, such as Megantereon and Smilodon , the Machairodontini or Homotherini with scimitar-toothed cats, such as Machairodus or Homotherium , and
28-697: The Metailurini , containing genera such as Dinofelis and Metailurus . However, some have recently regrouped the Metailurini within the other felid subfamily, the Felinae, along with all modern cats. Based on mitochondrial DNA sequences extracted from fossils , machairodonts diverged from living cats around 20 million years ago, with the last surviving machairodont genera Homotherium and Smilodon estimated to have diverged from each other about 18 million years ago. The name 'saber-toothed tigers'
35-489: The Middle Miocene , with the last surviving species (belonging to the genera Smilodon and Homotherium ) becoming extinct around Late Pleistocene - Holocene transition (~13-10,000 years ago). The Machairodontinae contain many of the extinct predators commonly known as " saber-toothed cats ", including the famed genus Smilodon , and others like Megantereon as well as other cats with more modest increases in
42-412: The deltatheroideans ). Μαχαιροῦς, from Ancient Greek: μάχαιρα, lit. 'makhaira', means a sword, and oδόντος (odóntos), meaning "tooth." The Machairodontinae originated in the middle Miocene of Europe. The early felid Pseudaelurus quadridentatus showed a trend towards elongated upper canines, and is believed to be at the base of the machairodontine evolution. The earliest known machairodont genus
49-499: The size and length of their maxillary canines like Homotherium . The name means "dagger-tooth", from Greek μάχαιρα ( machaira ), sword. Sometimes, other carnivorous mammals with elongated teeth are also called saber-toothed cats, although they do not belong to the felids. Besides the machairodonts, other saber-toothed predators also arose in the nimravids , barbourofelids , machaeroidines , hyaenodonts and even in two groups of metatherians (the thylacosmilid sparassodonts and
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