The genus was first named by paleontologist Norbert Schmidt-Kittler in 1976 based on the holotype, a partial skull from Akçaköy, Eşme District, Turkey, and a second specimen, a lower jaw from Yeni Eskihisar. The generic name Miomachairodus is a combination of Mio, referring to the Miocene when it lived, and Machairodus; the specific name pseudailuroides means "like Pseudaelurus".[3]
In 2022, material from the Guanigou fauna in the Linxia Basin was described as Miomachairodus sp., and the authors suggested that it represented a new species of Miomachairodus. The fossil, a partial maxilla from the early Late Miocene (early Bahean), represented the oldest known machairodontine in Asia. They refrained from definitively naming the species because it lacked the fourth premolar.[4] The fossil material had previously been assigned to Machairodus palanderi in 2013.[5]
Description
The Miomachairodus sp. from the Linxia Basin is known only from a single fossil (HMV2039), a partial maxilla with the first, second, and third incisors, the canine, and the third premolar present, as well as the alveolus of the second premolar and a broken fourth premolar. The incisors are small and the canine tooth has "distinct but small" serrations. It was distinguished from M. pseudailuroides by having a shorter diastema between the canine and third premolar, and in the differing morphology of the third premolar. The describing paper estimated it was a large carnivoran that weighed more than 100 kilograms (220 lb).[4]
Classification
A 2018 phylogenetic analysis recovered Miomachairodus pseudailuroides as basal to most of the rest of Machairodontinae.[6]
^Qiu, Z. (1990). "The Chinese Neogene Mammalian Biochronology — Its Correlation with the European Neogene Mammalian Zonation". In Lindsay, H.E.; Fahlbusch, V.; Mein, P. (eds.). European Neogene Mammal Chronology. Plenum Press. pp. 527–556. doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-2513-8_32.
^Fortelius, Mikael. Geology and paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey.
^Schmidt-Kittler, Norbert (1976). "Raubtiere aus dem Jungtertiär Kleinasiens" [Carnivores from the Late Tertiary of Asia Minor]. Palaeontographica Abteilung A (in German). 155: 107–113.
^Deng, T., Hou, S. K., Xie, G. P., Wang, S. Q., Shi, Q. Q., Chen, S. K., ... & Lu, X. K. (2013). "Chronostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of the Upper Miocene of the Linxia Basin in Gansu, China". Journal of Stratigraphy. 37: 417–427.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Viranta, S.; Werdelin, L. (2003). "Carnivora". In Fortelius M.; Kappelman J.; Sen S.; Bernor R. (eds.). Geology and Paleontology of the Miocene Sinap Formation, Turkey. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 178–193.
Viranta, S.; Werdelin, L. (1999). Fossil remains of a primitive sabertooth cat (Miomachairodus pseudailuroides) from Anatolia (Abstr.) Abstracts of 79th Annual Meeting, American Society of Mammalogists.
