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Hyaenodontidae ("Hyena teeth") is a family of the extinct order Creodonta, which contains several dozen genera. The Hyaenodontids were important mammalian predators that arose during the late Paleocene and persisted well into the Miocene.[1] They were considerably more widespread and successful than the related oxyaenids.[2]
[edit] General CharacteristicsCharacterized by long skulls, slender jaws, slim bodies, and a tendency to walk on their toes rather than flat-footed (plantigrade), they ranged in size from 30 to 120 cm at the shoulder.[2] While Hyaenodon gigas could weigh about 300 kg[verification needed], most were in the 5-15 kg range, equivalent to a mid-sized dog.[3] Fossil evidence of their skulls shows that they had a particularly acute sense of smell, while their teeth were adapted for shearing, rather than crushing. [2]  Because of their size range, it is probable that different species hunted in different ways and allowed them to fill many different predatory niches. Smaller ones would hunt in packs during the night like wolves, and bigger, fiercer ones would hunt alone during the daylight, using their sheer size and their mighty jaws as their principal weapon. The carnassials in a hyaenodontid are the second upper and third lower molars. [edit] RangeHyaenodontids ranged from North America to Africa [4][5], and were important hypercarnivores in Eurasia, Africa and North America during the Oligocene, but, lost ground to the carnivoran mammals, with almost the entire family becoming extinct by the close of the Oligocene. Only four genera, Megistotherium, and its sister genus, Hyainailouros, Dissopsalis, and the youngest species of Hyaenodon, H. weilini, survived into the Miocene, of which, only Dissopsalis survived long enough to go extinct at the close of the Miocene.[1] [edit] Genera
The Machaeroidinae are sometimes placed here, e.g. by Egi, 2001.[3] [edit] References
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