Leontoceryx

Leontoceryx is an extinct, little-known genus of pantherine felid. It was named in 1938 by Hungarian palaeontologist Miklós Kretzoi based on a partial upper jaw fossil with only three teeth present.^[1]

Leontoceryx Temporal range: Late 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:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Pantherinae
Genus:	†Leontoceryx Kretzoi, 1938
Type species
Leontoceryx bessarabiae Kretzoi, 1938

The holotype specimen was originally described in 1916 and assigned to Machairodus schlosseri by Alexejew,^[2] though Otto Zdansky in 1924 expressed doubt as to that identification based on Alexejew's illustration, which lacked the chin ridge seen in M. schlosseri and did have a groove on the canine tooth characteristic of felines.^[3]

A second specimen, a single lower canine tooth, was described by Kretzoi in 1951. It came from a locality near Csákvár, Hungary, and was dated back to the Late Miocene.^[4]