Belongs within: Carnivoramorpha.
Contains: Nimravidae, Canidae, Amphicyonidae, Ursidae, Musteloidea, Phocidae, Otarioidea, Aeluroidea.
The Carnivora, as the name suggests, contains many of the familiar carnivorous mammals, though many species are partially or even primarily herbivorous. Within the crown Carnivora, most authors agree on a primary division between the Feliformia, containing cats, civets and mongooses, and the Caniformia, containing dogs, bears and weasels. Crown feliform taxa have the auditory bulla divided into two chambers by a bilaminar septum, while caniform taxa either have a low septum in the anterior part of the auditory cavity (Canidae) or lack a longitudinal septum entirely (Arctoidea) (Flynn et al.) 1988). The Canidae are also generally agreed to represent the sister group of other living caniforms in the Arctoidea.
The large, cat-like Nimravidae of the Eocene and Oligocene are uncertainly placed relative to modern carnivorans; various authors have placed them as stem feliforms, stem caniforms or outside the carnivoran crown group. Another group of cat-like carnivorans, the Miocene Barbourofelidae, have been classified with the Nimravidae in the past but were argued by Morlo et al. (2004) to be closer to true cats, possibly their sister group. Barbourofelids were convergent in appearance with the sabre-toothed cats (Machairodontinae), similarly possessing large scimitar-like canines.
Characters (from Flynn et al. 1988): P4-M1 modified into carnassial teeth; P4 protocone far anterolingual of paracone; elongate, well-developed P4 metastyle wing and blade with deep carnassial notch; elongate P4 talond with at least two posterior accessory cusps on posterior flank of main cusp; progressive decrease in size from M1 to M3, with M1 much larger than following two molars.
Carnivora [Cynofeloidea, Fissipeda, Miacoidea]
| i. s.: Promephitis hootoniMHL03, DW04
| Taxus labradoricusJ23
|--Caniformia [Arctoidei, Canoidea, Hypomycteri, Simocyoninae, Ursoidae]FNT88
| |--NimravidaeFNT88
| `--+--CynoideaWT96
| | |--CanidaeFNT88
| | `--Procynodictis Wortman & Matthew 1899WT96, SM93
| | |--P. progressus (Stock 1935)W96
| | `--P. vulpiceps [incl. Miacis gracilis Clark 1939]WT96
| `--Arctoidea [Mustelida, Ursoidea]FNT88
| |--AmphicyonidaeBT96
| `--Ursida [Plantigrada]BT96
| |--+--UrsidaeFNT88
| | `--Subparictis Clark & Guensburg 1972 [Subparictidae]BT96
| | |--S. parvus (Clark & Beerbower 1967) [=Parictis (Campylocynodon) parvus]BT96
| | `--+--*S. gilpini (Clark & Guensburg 1972) [=Parictis (*Subparictis) gilpini]BT96
| | `--+--S. dakotensis (Clark in Scott & Jepsen 1936) [=Parictis dakotensis]BT96
| | |--S. montanus (Clark & Guensburg 1972) [=Parictis (Subparictis) montanus]BT96
| | `--Nothocyon Matthew 1899BT96
| | `--N. geismarianusV91
| `--+--+--MusteloideaFNT88
| | `--Mustelavus Clark in Scott & Jepsen 1936MJ11, BT96
| | `--*M. priscus Clark in Scott & Jepsen 1936 [=Plesictis priscus]BT96
| `--PinnipediaFF06
| |--AmphicticepsRDT09
| | |--A. dorogFF06
| | `--A. shackelfordiFF06
| `--+--PhocidaeRDT09
| |--OtarioideaRDT09
| `--Puijila Rybczynski, Dawson & Tedford 2009RDT09
| `--*P. darwini Rybczynski, Dawson & Tedford 2009RDT09
`--FeliformiaFNT88
| i. s.: Pseudocivetta ingensS78
| Barbourofelidae [Barbourofelinae, Barbourofelini]MPN04
| | i. s.: Barbourofelis Schultz et al. 1970MPN04
| | |--B. frickiMPN04
| | |--B. loveorumMPN04
| | `--B. morrisMPN04
| | Sansanosmilus Kretzoi 1929MPN04
| | |--S. jourdani (Filhol 1883)MPN04
| | |--S. palmidens (Blainville 1843)MPN04
| | |--S. piveteaui (Ozansoy 1965) [=Barbourofelis piveteaui]MPN04
| | `--S. vallesiensis Beaumont & Crusafont-Pairó 1982MPN04
| | Syrtosmilus Ginsburg 1978MPN04
| | `--*S. syrtensis Ginsburg 1978MPN04
| | Vampyrictis Kurtén 1976MPN04
| | `--*V. viperaMPN04
| |--Ginsburgsmilus Morales, Salesa et al. 2001MPN04
| | `--G. napakensisMPN04
| `--+--Prosansanosmilus Heizmann, Ginsburg & Bulot 1980MPN04
| | |--*P. peregrinus Heizmann et al. 1980MPN04
| | `--P. eggeri Morlo, Peigné & Nagel 2004MPN04
| `--Afrosmilus Kretzoi 1929MPN04
| |--A. turkanae Schmidt-Kittler 1987MPN04
| `--+--A. africanus (Andrews 1914)MPN04 [=Metailurus africanusS78]
| `--A. hispanicus Morales et al. 2001MPN04
|--AeluroideaFNT88
`--PalaeogalidaeML01
|--Palaeogale von Meyer 1846FNT88, BT96
| `--P. sectoria (Gervais 1848–1852) (see below for synonymy)BT96
`--Cryptailurus Martin & Lim 2001ML01
`--*C. tedfordi Martin & Lim 2001ML01Palaeogale sectoria(Gervais 1848–1852) [=Mustela sectoria; incl. Bunaelurus infelix Matthew 1903, P. infelix, B. lagophagus Cope 1873, P. lagophaga, B. parvulus Matthew & Granger 1924, B. ulysses Matthew & Granger 1924]BT96
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BT96] Baskin, J. A., & R. H. Tedford. 1996. Small arctoid and filiform carnivorans. In: Prothero, D. R., & R. J. Emry (eds) The Terrestrial Eocene–Oligocene Transition in North America pp. 486–497. Cambridge University Press.
[DW04] Deng T., Wang X., Ni X. & Liu L. 2004. Sequence of the Cenozoic mammalian faunas of the Linxia Basin in Gansu, China. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 78 (1): 8–14.
[FF06] Finarelli, J. A., & J. J. Flynn. 2006. Ancestral state reconstruction of body size in the Caniformia (Carnivora, Mammalia): the effects of incorporating data from the fossil record. Systematic Biology 55 (2): 301–313.
[FNT88] Flynn, J. J., N. A. Neff & R. H. Tedford. 1988. Phylogeny of the Carnivora. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods vol. 2. Mammals pp. 73–116. Clarendon Press: Oxford.
[J23] James, E. 1823. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and ’20, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, sec’y of war: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party vol. 1. H. C. Carey & I. Lea: Philadelphia.
[ML01] Martin, L. D., & J.-D. Lim. 2001. A musteliform carnivore from the American Early Miocene. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte 2001: 265–276.
[MHL03] Meng, J., Y. Hu & C. Li. 2003. The osteology of Rhombomylus (Mammalia, Glires): implications for phylogeny and evolution of Glires. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 275: 1–247.
[MJ11] Meredith, R. W., J. E. Janečka, J. Gatesy, O. A. Ryder, C. A. Fisher, E. C. Teeling, A. Goodbla, E. Eizirik, T. L. L. Simão, T. Stadler, D. L. Rabosky, R. L. Honeycutt, J. J. Flynn, C. M. Ingram, C. Steiner, T. L. Williams, T. J. Robinson, A. Burk-Herrick, M. Westerman, N. A. Ayoub, M. S. Springer & W. J. Murphy. 2011. Impacts of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution and KPg extinction on mammal diversification. Science 334: 521–524.
[MPN04] Morlo, M., S. Peigne & D. Nagel. 2004. A new species of Prosansanosmilus: implications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank (Carnivora, Mammalia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 140: 43–61.
[RDT09] Rybczynski, N., M. R. Dawson & R. H. Tedford. 2009. A semi-aquatic Arctic mammalian carnivore from the Miocene epoch and origin of Pinnipedia. Nature 458: 1021–1024.
[S78] Savage, R. J. G. 1978. Carnivora. In: Maglio, V. J., & H. B. S. Cooke (eds) Evolution of African Mammals pp. 249–267. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).
[SM93] Stucky, R. K., & M. C. McKenna. 1993. Mammalia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 739–771. Chapman & Hall: London.
[V91] Valkenburgh, B. van. 1991. Iterative evolution of hypercarnivory in canids (Mammalia: Carnivora): evolutionary interactions among sympatric predators. Paleobiology 17 (4): 340–362.
[W96] Walsh, S. L. 1996. S. Middle Eocene mammal faunas of San Diego County, California. In: Prothero, D. R., & R. J. Emry (eds) The Terrestrial Eocene–Oligocene Transition in North America pp. 75–119. Cambridge University Press.
[WT96] Wang, X., & R. H. Tedford. 1996. Canidae. In: Prothero, D. R., & R. J. Emry (eds) The Terrestrial Eocene–Oligocene Transition in North America pp. 433–452. Cambridge University Press.