View source for Adelphailurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of felid}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = Middle {{geological range|Pliocene}}
| image =
| image_caption =
| taxon = Adelphailurus
| authority = Hibbard, 1934
| type_species = '''''Adelphailurus kansensis'''''
| type_species_authority = Hibbard, 1934
| range_map = Adelphailurus_range.png
| range_map_caption = Range of Adelphailurus based on fossil record
| synonyms =
''Metailurus kansensis'' {{small|(Hibbard, 1934) ''sensu'' Andersson & Werdelin, 2005}}
}}

'''''Adelphailurus''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of [[Metailurini|metailurin]] [[machairodontine]] (saber-toothed) [[Felidae|cat]] that inhabited western [[North America]] during the middle [[Pliocene]]. It is monotypic, containing only the species '''''Adelphailurus kansensis'''''.<ref name=Hibbard1934/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Alan |last2=Antón |first2=Mauricio |year=1997 |title=The Big Cats and their fossil relatives |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-10228-3}}</ref>

==History of discovery==
The holotype and only specimen, '''KUMVP 3462''', was collected by H. T. Martin from near the base of the Ogallala Formation in Sherman County, [[Kansas]], in the summer of 1924. It was subsequently stored in the collections at the University of Kansas' Museum of Vertebrate Paleontology. However, it was not described until 1934 when paleontologist [[Claude W. Hibbard]] erected the new genus and species ''Adelphailurus kansensis'' for the specimen.<ref name=Hibbard1934>{{Cite journal|last1=Hibbard |first1=C. W. |date=1934 |title=Two new genera of Felidae from the middle Pliocene of Kansas |journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science |volume=37 |pages=239–255 |doi=10.2307/3625308 |jstor=3625308 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3625308.pdf}}</ref>

The genus name is derived from the Greek {{lang|grc|ἀδελφός}}/{{Transliteration|grc|adelphós}} meaning "brother", and {{lang|grc|αἴλουρος}}/{{Transliteration|grc|ailurus}} meaning "cat". The specific epithet ''kansensis'' means "from Kansas".<ref name=Hibbard1934/>

==Description==
The holotype of ''Adelphailurus kansensis'' consists of the anterior portion of a skull with nearly perfect dentition on both the maxillaries and premaxillaries. Hibbard stated that the living cat would have a relatively broad skull with large canines.<ref name=Hibbard1934/>

==Classification==
Hibbard only assigned the genus to the family Felidae in his original description.<ref name=Hibbard1934/> It was assigned to the tribe [[Metailurini]] in 1983,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Berta |first1=A. |last2=Galiano |first2=H. |date=1983 |title=Megantereon hesperus from the late Hemphillian of Florida with remarks on the phylogenetic relationships of machairodonts (Mammalia, Felidae, Machairodontinae) |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=57 |issue=5 |pages=892–899 |jstor=1304759}}</ref> assigned in passing to Felidae by Carroll in 1988,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carroll |first1=Robert L. |date=1988 |title=Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution |publisher=W.H. Freeman and Company|isbn=0716718227}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2024}} and to the subfamily Machairodontinae by Martin in 1998.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Martin |first1=L. D. |date=1998 |chapter=Felidae |title=Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America |editor=C. M. Janis |editor2=K. M. Scott |editor3=L. L. Jacobs |volume=1 |pages=236–242}}</ref>

In 2005, Werdelin and Andersson suggested that ''Adelphailurus kansensis'' should be reassigned to the genus ''[[Metailurus]]'' as ''Metailurus kansensis'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Andersson |first1=K. |last2=Werdelin |first2=L. |date=2005 |title=Carnivora from the late miocene of Lantian, China |url=http://ivpp.cas.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwzxz/200810/W020090813368770778229.pdf |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=267 |doi= |access-date=}}</ref> but this was rejected and refuted by Li in 2014 and Spassov & Geraads in 2015.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yu |date=2014 |title=Restudy of Metailurus major from Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province reported by Teilhard de Chardin and Leroy |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271020687 |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages= |doi= |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=A New Felid from the Late Miocene of the Balkans and the Contents of the Genus ''Metailurus'' Zdansky, 1924 (Carnivora, Felidae) |date=2014-05-15 |doi=10.1007/s10914-014-9266-5 |volume=22 |journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution |pages=45–56 |last1=Spassov |first1=Nikolai|s2cid=14261386 |last2=Geraads |first2=Denis}}</ref>

In 2010 it was suggested that ''[[Nimravides]] hibbardi'' was a junior synonym of ''Adelphailurus kansensis''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hodnett|first1=John-Paul|date=2010|title= A Machairodont felid (Mammalia; Carnivora; Felidae) from the latest Hemphillian (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene) Bidahochi Formation, northeastern Arizona|journal= Paleobios|volume= 29|issue= 3|pages= |doi=10.5070/P9293021800|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4xr1s918|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Position of ''Adelphailurus'' in Metailurini according to a 2018 phylogenetic analysis:<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Evolution of the sabertooth mandible: A deadly ecomorphological specialization |date=2018 |last1=Piras |first1=Paolo |last2=Silvestro |first2=Daniele |last3=Carotenuto |first3=Francesco |last4=Castiglione |first4=Silvia |last5=Kotsakis |first5=Anastassios |last6=Maiorino |first6=Leonardo |last7=Melchionna |first7=Marina |last8=Mondanaro |first8=Alessandro |last9=Sansalone |first9=Gabriele |last10=Serio |first10=Carmela |last11=Vero |first11=Veronica Anna |last12=Raia |first12=Pasquale |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=496 |pages=166–174 |bibcode=2018PPP...496..166P |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.034|hdl=2158/1268434 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

{{clade
|label1='''Metailurini'''
|1={{clade
  |1=''[[Fortunictis]] acerensis''
  |2='''''Adelphailurus kansensis'''''
  |3=''[[Stenailurus teilhardi]]''
  |4={{clade
     |1=''[[Metailurus mongoliensis]]''
     |2=''[[Metailurus hengduanshanensis]]''
     |3=''[[Metailurus obscurus]]''
     |4=''[[Metailurus major]]''
     |5={{clade
        |1=''[[Yoshi (genus)|Yoshi]] minor''
        |2=''Yoshi garevskii''
        }}
      }}
  |5=''[[Dinofelis]]''
  }}
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Machairodontinae}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q146558|from2=Q20716453}}

[[Category:Metailurini]]
[[Category:Pliocene mammals of North America]]
[[Category:Monotypic prehistoric carnivoran genera]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1934]]


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