Hyaenictitherium

Hyaenictitherium is an extinct genus of hyaenids that lived throughout Africa, Asia, and possibly Europe during the Late Miocene and Pliocene. The type species, H. hyaenoides, was similar in size to a striped hyena,^[1] whereas the smaller H. minimum was close in size to a jackal.^[2] Hyaenictitherium may represent a paraphyletic group.^[1]

Hyaenictitherium Temporal range: Late Miocene to Pliocene (Turolian to Ruscinian) Vallesian if Hyaenotherium is included
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Hyaenidae
Subfamily:	†Ictitheriinae
Genus:	†Hyaenictitherium Kretzoi, 1938
Type species
†Hyaenictitherium hyaenoides Zdansky, 1924
Other species
†H. parvum (Khomenko, 1914) †H. namaquensis (Stromer, 1931) †H. venator Semenov, 1989 †H. pilgrimi Werdelin & Solounias, 1991 †H. minimum de Bonis et al., 2005 †H. barbarum? Geraads et al., 2010 †H. wongii? (Zdansky, 1914) †H. ebu? (Werdelin, 2003)
Synonyms
Genus synonymy Hyaenotherium? Species synonymy H. hyaenoides: Palhyaena hipparionum (Gervais, 1846) Kittl, 1887 Ictitherium hipparionum (Gervais, 1846) Sintsov, 1900 Ictitherium hyaenoides Zdansky, 1924 Lycyaena spathulata Qiu, Huang, & Guo, 1979 Thalassictis (Hyaenictitherium) hyaenoides (Zdansky, 1924) Solounias & De Beaumont, 1981 Thalassictis wongii (Zdansky, 1924) Qiu, 1985 Thalassictis hyaenoides (Zdansky, 1924) Werdelin, 1988b H. parvum: Lycyaena parva Khomenko, 1914 ?Lycyaena parva (Khomenko, 1914) Alekseev, 1915 Hyaenictitherium venator Semenov, 1989 H. namaquensis: Hyaena namaquensis Stromer, 1931 Hyaena sp. B Hendey, 1974 Ictitherium arkesilai Esu & Kotsakis, 1980 H. pilgrimi: Hyaena sivalensis Lydekker, 1884 Palhyaena indica Pilgrim, 1910 Palhyaena cf. hipparionum (Gervais, 1846) Pilgrim, 1913 Ictitherium indicum (Pilgrim, 1910) Pilgrim, 1932 Hyaenictitherium indicum (Pilgrim, 1910) Kretzoi, 1938 Thalassictis indicum (Pilgrim, 1910) De Vos, Leinders & Hussain, 1987 'Ictitherium' indicum (Pilgrim, 1910) Werdelin, 1988 H. venator: Ictitherium hipparionum (Gervais, 1846) Macarovici, 1957

Some authors argue that Hyaenotherium (Semenov, 1989) is a junior synonym of Hyaenictitherium, and that species belonging to this genus (H. wongii and H. ebu^[2]) should be included in Hyaenictitherium.^[3][4]

Taxonomy

Hyaenictitherium was erected by Kretzoi (1938) with H. hyaenoides as the type species. H. venator was later described by Semenov (1989). Werdelin & Solounias (1991) in their review of Hyaenidae included H. parvum, H. namaquensis, and H. pilgrimi in this genus.^[1] H. minimum was later described by Bonis et al. (2005).^[5] H. barbarum was tentatively assigned to Hyaenictitherium by Geraads et al. (2010).^[6] Some authors include species assigned to the genus Hyaenotherium, including H. wongii and H. ebu,^[2] under Hyaenictitherium.^[3][4]