Hyainailouros

Hyainailouros ("hyena-cat") is an extinct polyphyletic genus of hyaenodont belonging to the family Hyainailouridae that lived during the Early to Late Miocene, of which there were at least three species spread across Eurasia and Africa.^[6][7]

Hyainailouros Temporal range: Early to Late Miocene (Burdigalian to Tortonian) 20.0–11.3 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
lower jaw of Hyainailouros sulzeri
Restoration of H. sulzeri (far left), Cynelos eurydon, Afrosmilus africanus and H. napakensis (far right)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Hyaenodonta
Superfamily:	†Hyainailouroidea
Family:	†Hyainailouridae
Subfamily:	†Hyainailourinae
Tribe:	†Hyainailourini
Genus:	†Hyainailouros Biedermann, 1863
Type species
†Hyainailouros sulzeri Biedermann, 1863
Species
†H. bugtiensis (Pilgrim, 1912)[1] †H. napakensis (Ginsburg, 1980)[2] †H. sulzeri Biedermann, 1863[3]
Synonyms
synonyms of genus: Hainailouros (Lavrov, 1999)[4] Hyaenaelurus (Stehlin, 1907) Hyaenailurus (Rütimeyer, 1867) synonyms of species: H. napakensis: Hyainailouros nyanzae (Ginsburg, 1980) Pterodon nyanzae (Savage, 1965)[5] H. sulzeri: Hyainailouros maximus (Meyer, 1837) Hyaenailurus sulzeri (Biedermann, 1863)

Description

The type species, H. sulzeri, was one of the largest hyaenodonts, weighing between 266–1,276 kg (586–2,813 lb). H. bugtiensis was around the same size of H. sulzeri, if not slightly larger, weighing 267–1,744 kg (589–3,845 lb). Both species were similar in size to the closely related Simbakubwa. H. napakensis, on the other hand, was the smallest species of the genus, weighing just around 202–271 kg (445–597 lb).^[8]

Paleobiology

Closely related to other large African hyaenodonts such as Simbakubwa and Megistotherium, Hyainailouros walked with a semi-digitigrade stance and was probably capable of large, leaping bounds.^[8]