Dinofelis ("terrible cat") is a genus of machairodontin saber-toothed cats belong to the tribe Metailurini that lived in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America approximately 5-1.2 million years ago (most of which would have been in the Pliocene).

Dinofelis is known as a "false saber-tooth" cat because, instead of true saber-teeth, it had what appears to be a cross between long, flat saber-teeth and the cone-shaped teeth of the modern-day felines. Dinofelis fossils and bones have been found in South Africa along with those of the baboons that it possibly killed. The fact that Dinofelis is a large and powerful animal and more stocky than lions (who avoid baboons) has led scientists to believe that it probably was an efficient primate killer and likely attacked the early humans with which it co-existed.

Species of Dinofelis:

• Dinofelis abeli (China)
• Dinofelis barlowi (Africa)
• Dinofelis diastemata (Europe)
• Dinofelis paleoonca (North America)
• Dinofelis piveteaui (South Africa)
• Dinofelis therailurus (Asia)

Saber-toothed cats | Pliocene mammals | Pleistocene mammals | Pleistocene extinctions

Dinofelis | Dinofelis