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Extinct genus of carnivore
Pristifelis is an
extinct genus of
feline from the late
Miocene . It contains a single species, Pristifelis attica . The first
fossil skull of P. attica was
excavated near
Pikermi in
Attica ,
Greece .
[2]
Fossils were also excavated near the
Moldovan city of
Taraclia .
[3]
It was also discovered in
Maragheh , northwestern
Iran .
[4] P. attica was bigger in body size than a
European wildcat but probably smaller than a
serval . The species was first described as Felis attica by
Johann Andreas Wagner in 1857. Due to size differences, it was proposed as
type species for the
genus Pristifelis proposed in 2012.
[5]
Pristifelis attica was formerly considered ancestral to Felis ,
[6] but is now considered ancestral to Felinae more broadly.
[7]
History and naming
The generic name Pristifelis is a combination of the Latin pristinus meaning "primitive", and felis meaning "cat".
[5]
References
^
The Paleobiology Database Felis attica entry Accessed on 21 July 2011
^ Wagner, A. (1857). "Neue Beiträge zur Kenntnis der fossilen Säugetier-Überreste von Pikermi". Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften . 3 : 153−170.
^ Riabinin, A. (1927). "Faune de mammifères de Taraklia. 1. Carnivora vera, Rodentia, Subungulata". Travaux du Musée de Géologie de Leningrad . 5 : 75–134.
^ Mirzaie Ataabadi M., Fortelius M. (2016). "Introduction to the special issue "The late Miocene Maragheh mammal fauna; results of recent multidisciplinary research" ". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments . 99 (3): 339–347.
doi :
10.1007/s12549-016-0242-3 .
S2CID
133493026 .
^
a
b Salesa, M. J.; Antón, M.; Morales, J.; Peigné, S. (2012).
"Systematics and phylogeny of the small felines (Carnivora, Felidae) from the Late Miocene of Europe: a new species of Felinae from the Vallesian of Batallones (MN 10, Madrid, Spain)" . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 10 (1): 87–102.
doi :
10.1080/14772019.2011.566584 .
S2CID
84912711 .
^ Johnson, W. E.; Eizirik, E.; Pecon-Slattery, J.; Murphy, W. J.; Antunes, A.; Teeling, E. & O'Brien, S. J. (2006).
"The Late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment" .
Science . 311 (5757): 73–77.
Bibcode :
2006Sci...311...73J .
doi :
10.1126/science.1122277 .
PMID
16400146 .
S2CID
41672825 .
^ Bellani, G.G. (2020).
Felines of the World: Discoveries in Taxonomic Classification and History . London: Academic Press. p. 47.
ISBN
978-0-12-816503-4 .
Pristifelis Pristifelis attica Felis attica