Dinofelis

Dinofelis is an extinct genus of machairodontine (sabre-toothed cat), usually classified in the tribe Metailurini. It was widespread in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America from 5 million to about 1.2 million years ago (early Pliocene to early Pleistocene). Fossils very similar to Dinofelis from Lothagam range back to around 8 million years ago, in the Late Miocene.

Discovery and naming

The genus Dinofelis was originally named by Otto Zdansky in 1924 for the species Dinofelis abeli.

Further fossil species were named, including Felis diastemata and Meganthereon barlowi, which were later transferred to the genus Therailurus, which was in turn later considered a junior synonym of Dinofelis.

A comprehensive review of the genus was published in 2001 by paleontologists Lars Werdelin and Margaret E. Lewis, including mentions of the then-unnamed Langebaanweg and Lothagam species, as well as naming a new species Dinofelis aronoki; the species epithet came from the phrase arono ki which, in the language of the people of eastern Turkana, means "it was terrible". The review also noted six different sets of remains that were referable to Dinofelis but were too fragmentary to assign to any one species.

Another unnamed (again, due to fragmentary material) species was described in 2021, based on fossils from a Plio-Pleistocene site in Northern Africa.

In 2023, the Langebaanweg species was described as Dinofelis werdelini; the specific epithet honored Lars Werdelin. It assigned a holotype, paratype, and nine other specimens of fragmentary cranial material (some of which had previously been referred to other species) to the newly-named species.