The term saber-toothed cat describes numerous cat-like species that lived during various parts of the Cenozoic and evolved their saber-toothed characteristics entirely independently. The saber-tooth morphology is an excellent example of convergent evolution as it occurred repeatedly and independently in at least four distinct mammalian groups.

Saber-tooth genera

---

The genera of sabre-toothed cats, along with the regions and time periods where they have been found, is summarized here:

Genus Name	Number of Species	Times	Regions
Smilodon	6	2.5 MYA to 9,000 YA	North America
Hoplophoneus	5	33.7 MYA to 23.8 MYA	North and South America
Eusmilis	3	30.5 MYA to 28 MYA	Europe, North America, South America
Dinictis	4	40 MYA	North America
Dinaelurus	1	?	North America
Dinailurictis	1	?	?
Eofelis	1	?	?
Nimravidus (Nimravides)	2	?	?
Nimravus (Nimravinus)	6	33.5 MYA to 20 MYA	Europe, North America
Nimraviscus	1	?	?
Pogonodon	2	?	?
Quercylurus	1	?	?
Archaelurus	1	?	?
Aelurogale (Ailurictis)	1	?	?
Ictidailurus	1	?	?
Barbourofelis	7	15 MYA to 3 MYA	Africa
Prosansanosmilus	2	?	?
Sansanosmilus	3	?	?
Syrtosmilus	1	?	?
Vampyrictis	1	?	?
Vishnusmilus	1	?	?
Homotherium	10	3 MYA to 10,000 YA	Europe and Asia
Miracinonyx	2	3.2 MYA to 10,000 YA	North America
Thylacosmilus (marsupial)	2	10 MYA to 1.8 MYA	South America
Metailurus	9	15 MYA to 8 MYA	Eurasia
Adelphailurus	1	23 MYA to 5 MYA	Kansas (North America)
Machairodus (Ancestral to Homotherium)	18	15 MYA to 2 MYA	Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America
Megantereon	8	3 MYA to 9,000 YA	Africa, Eurasia, and North America
Dinofelis	6	5 MYA to 1.5 MYA	Africa, Eurasia, North America
Pontosmilus	4	20 MYA to 9 MYA	Eurasia
Pseudaelurus	1	20 MYA to 10 MYA	Europe, North America
Paramachairodus	3	20-15 MYA to 9 MYA	Europe
Xenosmilus (1 specimen)	1	1.7 MYA to 1 MYA	Central Florida (North America)
Stenailurus	1	(?)	(?)
Afrosmilus	1	25 MYA to 10 MYA	Africa
Epimachairodus	1	(?)	(?)
Miomachairodus	1	(?)	(?)
Hemimachairodus	1	(?)	(?)
Ischyrosmilus	1	(?)	(?)

Saber-tooth evolutionary tree

---

All saber-tooth mammals lived between 9,000 and 33.7 million years ago, but the evolutionary lines that lead to the various saber-tooth genera started to diverge much earlier.

The lineage that led to Thylacosmilus was the first to split off, in the late Cretaceous. It is a marsupial, and thus more closely related to kangaroos and opossums than the felines. The creodonts diverged next, and then the nimravids, before the blossoming of the truly feline saber-tooths.

• Class Mammalia
  • Subclass Marsupialia (diverged ? MYA, in the Cretaceous)
    • Order Sparassodonta (an extinct South American group of marsupials)
      • Family Borhyaenidae (South American marsupial carnivores)
      • Thylacosmilus
  • Subclass Placentalia
    • Order Creodonta (diverged ? MYA, in the Paleocene)
      • Family Hyaenodontidae
        • ?Hyaenodontid genus
    • Order Carnivora
      • Family Nimravidae (diverged from the felioformes 48–55 MYA, in the late Eocene)
        • Subfamily Nimravinae (Dinictis)
        • Subfamily Hoplophoninae
        • Subfamily Barbourofelinae
      • Family Felidae (true cats)
        • Subfamily Machairodontinae (diverged ? MYA, in the ?)
          • Tribe Homotheriini
            • Homotherium
            • Machairodus
            • Xenosmilus
          • Tribe Metailurini
            • Dinofelis
            • Metailurus
          • Tribe Smilodontini
            • Megantereon
            • Paramachairodus
            • Smilodon

Why such large teeth?

---

The most dramatic feature common to all of the saber-toothed cats was their enlarged upper canines. While it is generally agreed upon that they were used in hunting, the exact way they were used has been debated since the 1880s when Smilodon was first described.

Grabbing

Some paleontologists believe that the primary purpose is to grab and hold large prey. This is not well supported by evidence, however, as it has been shown that saber-teeth used in this way may be broken relatively easily, and fossil skulls with broken saber-teeth are rare.

Slashing

A more accepted hypothesis suggests that saber-teeth were used for a shearing bite to the throat or abdomen of large prey (Akersten, 1985), or to deliver deep stab wounds, from which the prey would eventually bleed to death.

Display

Another possible use was as a social display structure (like most horns and antlers). If this is the case, it would support the theory that sabertooths were social animals.

Species

---

• Hoplophoneus dakotensis
• Hoplophoneus occidentalis
• Hoplophoneus primaevus
• Hoplophoneus sicarius
• Hoplophoneus mentalis
• Dinictis cyclops
• Dinictis felina
• Dinictis priseus
• Dinictis squalidens
• Smilodon fatalis
• Smilodon gracilis
• Smilodon populator
• Smilodon californicus
• Homotherium serum
• Homotherium latidens
• Homotherium aethiopicum
• Homotherium hadarensis
• Homotherium nestianus
• Homotherium nihowanensis
• Homotherium sainzelli
• Homotherium ultimum
• Homotherium crenatidens
• Homotherium cenatidens
• Miracinonyx inexpectatus
• Miracinonyx trumani
• Thylacosmilus atrox
• Thylacosmilus lentis
• Metailurus major
• Metailurus minor
• Metailurus mongoliensis
• Metailurus pamiri
• Metailurus boodon
• Metailurus parvulus
• Machairodus africanus
• Machairodus aphanistus
• Machairodus giganteus
• Machairodus oradensis
• Machairodus colorandensis
• Megantereon mangantereon
• Dinofelis abeli
• Dinofelis barlowi
• Dinofelis diastemata
• Dinofelis paleoonca
• Dinofelis piveteaui
• Dinofelis therailurus
• Paramachairodus ogygia
• Paramachairodus orientalis
• Xenosmilus hodsonae

External links

---

• Extinct Cats Index
• Illinois State Museum: Saber-toothed Cats
• UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology: Saber-toothed Cats
• Prehistoric cats and prehistoric cat-like creatures, from the Messybeast Cat Resource Archive.
• Saber-toothed Cats in Cryptozoology

Saber-toothed cats | prehistoric mammals

Dientes de sable | Sapelihammaskissat