A revision of the genus Dinofelis (Mammalia, Felidae)

This paper consists of a taxonomic and systematic revision of the extinct f elid genus Dinofelis (Felidae, Machairodontinae) and an analysis of its eco morphology and evolution. Dinofelis has a broad distribution, with material from all northern continents and Africa, the latter of which was the appar ent centre of evolution of the genus. We describe new material of Dinofelis from a number of sites in eastern Africa and reconsider all previously des cribed material. We name two new species and identify several other distinc t species-level taxa but refrain from naming these due to a paucity of well -preserved material. At the same time, we synonymize the two named Asian sp ecies, D. cristata and D. abeli, of which the former has priority. There ar e few characters useful in systematic analysis, but we can suggest at least one migration from eastern to southern Africa. Ecomorphological analysis o f both craniodental and postcranial characters suggests that Dinofelis in m any respects converged on modern pantherine cats in morphology and behaviou r, a trend culminating in the South African D. barlowi and the Asian D. cri stata, which are the most pantherine-like of all machairodont felids. This trend is reversed in the evolution of the youngest species, D. piveteaui, w hich is also the most machairodont in its ecomorphology. The timing of the extinction of Dinofelis is difficult to determine. Outside Africa material is scarce at all times, while in Africa the apparent extinction of Dinofeli s at about 1.4 Mya coincides with the end of the good, semi-continuous foss il record present in eastern Africa from about 4 Mya onwards. Dating of Kan am East (with D. piveteaui) to the Jaramillo Subchron (1.070-0.990 Mya) sug gests possible survival considerably later. Thus, the extinction datum for Dinofelis cannot at present be firmly established. (C) 2001 The Linnean Soc iety of London.