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Viverravidae facts for kids

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Viverravidae
Temporal range: 66.043–33.9Ma
early Paleocene - late Eocene
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
(unranked): Carnivoramorpha
Superfamily: Viverravoidea
Wortman & Matthew, 1899
Family: Viverravidae
Wortman & Matthew 1899
Genera
[see classification]
Synonyms

Didymictidae

The Viverravidae are an extinct family of early mammalian carnivores. They are in the superfamily Miacoidea, and lived from the early Palaeocene to the Eocene. They first appeared in the Paleocene of North America about 60 million years ago.

Viverravidae is a monophyletic family. In viverravids, the number of molars is reduced to two and the skull is long.

They are probably not related to any living carnivorans. The viverravids were previously thought to be the earliest carnivorans. A recent study of their skull morphology puts them outside the order Carnivora.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Viverrávidos para niños

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