Ginsburgsmilus

Ginsburgsmilus is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal of the family Barbourofelidae that was endemic to Africa during the early Miocene. There is only one known specimen of Ginsburgsmilus napakensis,[1] dated to 20-19 mya.

Ginsburgsmilus Temporal range: Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	†Barbourofelidae
Genus:	†Ginsburgsmilus Morales, Salesa, Pickford, & Soria 2001
Species:	†G. napakensis
Binomial name
†Ginsburgsmilus napakensis Morales, Salesa, Pickford, & Soria 2001

Taxonomy

Ginsburgsmilus was named by Morales et al. (2001).[2] It was assigned to Barbourofelidae by Morlo et al. (2004) and Morlo (2006).[3]

In 2001, a team led by Jorge Morales described Ginsburgsmilus[2] as a new genus in the family Barbourofelidae; the fossil material had been previously identified as Afrosmilus turkanae.

References

1. PaleoBiology Database: Ginsburgsmilus, basic info
2. Morales, J.; Salesa, M. J.; Pickford, M.; Soria, D. (2001). "A new tribe, new genus and two new species of Barbourofelinae (Felidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Early Miocene of East Africa and Spain". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences. 92 (01): 97–102. doi:10.1017/S0263593300000067.
3. Morlo, Michael; Stéphane Peigné; Doris Nagel (2004). "A new species of Prosansanosmilus: implications for the systematic relationships of the family Barbourofelidae new rank (Carnivora, Mammalia)" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 140 (1): 52. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00087.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-08. Retrieved 2008-11-28.