Viverravidae

This article is about an extinct family of mammals. For the extant family, see Viverridae.
Viverravidae
Temporal range: Paleocene-Eocene 66–40 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Superfamily: †Miacoidea
Family: †Viverravidae
Wortman & Matthew 1899, p. 136
Genera

†Bryanictis
†Didymictis
†Ictidopappus
†Mustelodon
†Pristinictis
†Protictis
†Raphictis
†Simpsonictis
†Viverravus
†Viverriscus

Viverravidae is an extinct family within the superfamily Miacoidea. They are related to carnivorans, and lived from the early Palaeocene to the Eocene.

In viverravids, the number of molars is reduced to two and the skull is elongated. Viverravidae is a monophyletic family, a plesion-group. They are not thought to be ancestral to any extant carnivorans.[1]

The viverravids were thought to be the earliest carnivorans: they first appeared in the Paleocene of North America about 60 million years ago. One author proposed that they should be placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology.[2]

Wang and Tedford propose that they arose in North America 65-60 million years ago, spread to Asia then later to Europe, and were the first carnivorans and possessed the first true pair of carnassial teeth.[3]:p8

References

  1. ↑ Wesley-Hunt, G.D.; Flynn, J.J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Paleontology. 3: 1–28. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518.
  2. ↑ Polly, David, Gina D. Wesley-Hunt, Ronald E. Heinrich, Graham Davis and Peter Houde (2006). "Earliest known carnivoran auditory bulla and support for a recent origin of crown-clade carnivora (Eutheria, Mammalia)" (PDF). Palaeontology. 49 (5): 1019–1027. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00586.x.
  3. ↑ Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H.; Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
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