Homotherium

Homotherium Temporal range: Early Pliocene to Late , 5–0.028 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skeleton of H. serum from Friesenhahn cave, Texas Memorial Museum, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	†Machairodontinae
Tribe:	†Homotherini
Genus:	†Homotherium Fabrini, 1890
Species
†Homotherium aethiopicum †Homotherium crenatidens †Homotherium crusafonti †Homotherium hadarensis †Homotherium idahoensis †Homotherium ischyrus †Homotherium johnstoni †Homotherium latidens †Homotherium moravicum †Homotherium nestianus †Homotherium nihowanensis †Homotherium sainzelli †Homotherium serum †Homotherium ultimum †Homotherium venezuelensis

†Homotherium aethiopicum
†Homotherium crenatidens
†Homotherium crusafonti
†Homotherium hadarensis
†Homotherium idahoensis
†Homotherium ischyrus
†Homotherium johnstoni
†Homotherium latidens
†Homotherium moravicum
†Homotherium nestianus
†Homotherium nihowanensis
†Homotherium sainzelli
†Homotherium serum
†Homotherium ultimum
†Homotherium venezuelensis

Homotherium is an extinct genus of machairodontine saber-toothed cats, often termed scimitar-toothed cats, that ranged from North America, South America, Eurasia, and Africa during the Pliocene and epochs (5 mya – 28,000 years ago), existing for approximately 5 million years.

It first became extinct in Africa some 1.5 million years ago. In Eurasia it survived until about 30,000 years ago. In South America it is only known from a few remains in the northern region (Venezuela), from the mid-Pleistocene. The most recent remains of Homotherium dates to 28,000 years BP.

The name Homotherium (Greek: ὁμός (homos, ‘same’) and θηρίον (therion, ‘beast’) was proposed by Fabrini (1890), without further explanation, for a new subgenus of Machairodus, whose main distinguishing feature was the presence of a large diastema between the two inferior premolars

Homotherium probably derived from Machairodus and appeared for the first time at the Miocene-Pliocene border, about 5 million years ago. During the it occurred in vast parts of Eurasia, North America and until the middle Pleistocene (about 1.5 million years ago) even in Africa. A fossil of H. crenatidens was inadvertently dredged from the bed of the North Sea, which was a flat, low-lying extent of marshy tundra laced with rivers during the recent glaciation. There has also been a discovery of 1.8 million-year-old fossils in Venezuela, indicating that scimitar cats were able to invade South America along with Smilodon during the Great American Interchange. These remains form the holotype of Homotherium venezuelensis. How long they lasted in South America is not yet evident. Homotherium survived in Eurasia until about 28,000 years ago.

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Wikipedia