名称：Metailurus major
分类：Class Mammalia; Order Carnivora; Family Felidae; Subfamily Machairodontinae; Tribe:Metailurini
地质时间：晚中新世
头骨尺寸：Size: Skull: 190 mm long, 100 mm high, 125 mm across. With canines 50 mm in length (curve measurement) Matrix: 110 mm long, 75 mm across, 75 mm tall
化石所在地：Guanghe Formation , Xihe, Gansu Province, China
This skull belongs to a member of the Machairodontinae, or true saber-toothed
cats known as Metailurus major. While modern cats have conical canines, the
Machairodonts (meaning sabre-teeth), had laterally flattened blade-like canines.
They were presumably too fragile to use to stab prey, but probably these cats
went for the soft tissue of the throat to effect their kills. This taxon was
originally described in 1924 from material discovered in China, much like the
specimen shown here. Metailurus was about the size of a large modern-day Puma.
Its stocky build and heavy forearms are suggestive of an arboreal habit, hunting
in forested areas. Loss of the second premolar is an advanced trait, because
earlier cats had larger numbers of teeth than their descendants.
分类：Class Mammalia; Order Carnivora; Family Felidae; Subfamily Machairodontinae; Tribe:Metailurini
地质时间：晚中新世
头骨尺寸：Size: Skull: 190 mm long, 100 mm high, 125 mm across. With canines 50 mm in length (curve measurement) Matrix: 110 mm long, 75 mm across, 75 mm tall
化石所在地：Guanghe Formation , Xihe, Gansu Province, China
This skull belongs to a member of the Machairodontinae, or true saber-toothed
cats known as Metailurus major. While modern cats have conical canines, the
Machairodonts (meaning sabre-teeth), had laterally flattened blade-like canines.
They were presumably too fragile to use to stab prey, but probably these cats
went for the soft tissue of the throat to effect their kills. This taxon was
originally described in 1924 from material discovered in China, much like the
specimen shown here. Metailurus was about the size of a large modern-day Puma.
Its stocky build and heavy forearms are suggestive of an arboreal habit, hunting
in forested areas. Loss of the second premolar is an advanced trait, because
earlier cats had larger numbers of teeth than their descendants.
