NIMRAVINAE TO BARBOUROFELINAE

Peigné, Stephane & Bonis, Louis De, 2003, Juvenile cranial anatomy of Nimravidae (Mammalia, Carnivora): biological and phylogenetic implications, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 138 (4), pp. 477-493 : 491

RELATIONSHIPS OF NIMRAVINAE TO BARBOUROFELINAE

A comparison between the juvenile anatomy suggests that the Nimravinae differ from the Barbourofelinae in the ontogeny of the auditory bulla and development of sabretoothed features. Thus, within the Nimravinae , the ectotympanic rotation away from the skull appears markedly earlier during the ontogeny; within the most sabretoothed nimravines, the Hoplophoneini , we did not find a strong correlation between the eruption of the upper canines and development of other sabretoothed features (e.g. mandibular flange) which occurs in the Barbourofelinae (especially Barbourofelis ).

It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the relationships of the Nimravinae and Barbourofelinae in depth. However, readers can find a careful discussion of this topic in two recent works reporting on discoveries of early barbourofelines ( Morales et al., 2001; M. Morlo, S. Peigné & D. Nagel, unpubl. data). We here provide the main conclusions of these works. Thus, Morales et al. (2001) reported on the discovery of barbourofelines from the early Miocene of Africa and Spain. According to these authors, the dental morphology of these specimens suggests that the Miocene Nimravidae (i.e. Barbourofelinae) are not closely related to the Palaeogene Nimravidae (Nimravinae) , and that they should be assigned to the Felidae . Morlo et al. (unpubl. data) also reported on a new species of primitive Barbourofelinae from the middle Miocene of Germany, and confirmed the distinction between the two subfamilies. However, on the basis of deep differences in the auditory bulla between barbourofelines and felids, they propose to erect the Barbourofelinae to the family rank.