page_title: Machairodontinae
section_title: Family Felidae
hierarchical_section_title: Machairodontinae / Evolution / Family Felidae
caption_attribution_description: English: comparison of size between the largest machairodont, machairodus giganteus, specifically the male gender, and the common house cat, felis catus or felis silvistris catus
context_page_description: Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae. They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from about 16 million until about 11,000 years ago.
  The Machairodontinae contain many of the extinct predators commonly known as "saber-toothed cats", including the famed genus Smilodon, as well as other cats with only minor increases in the size and length of their maxillary canines. The name means "dagger-tooth", from Greek μάχαιρα, dagger. Sometimes, other carnivorous mammals with elongated teeth are also called saber-toothed cats, although they do not belong to the felids. Besides the machairodonts, saber-toothed predators also arose in nimravids, barbourofelids, Machaeroidinae, Hyaenodonta and even in two groups of metatherians.
context_section_description: The Machairodontinae originated in the early or middle Miocene of Africa. The early felid Pseudaelurus quadridentatus showed a trend towards elongated upper canines, and is believed to be at the base of the machairodontine evolution. The earliest known machairodont genus is the middle Miocene Miomachairodus from Africa and Turkey. Until the late Miocene, machairodontines co-existed at several places together with barbourofelids, archaic large carnivores that also bore long sabre-teeth.
  Traditionally, three different tribes of machairodontines were recognized, the Smilodontini with typical dirk-toothed forms, such as Megantereon and Smilodon, the Machairodontini or Homotherini with scimitar-toothed cats, such as Machairodus or Homotherium, and the Metailurini, containing genera such as Dinofelis and Metailurus. However, some have recently regrouped the Metailurini within the other felid subfamily, the Felinae, along with all modern cats. The last machairodontine genera, Smilodon and Homotherium, did not disappear until late in the Pleistocene, roughly 10,000 years ago in the Americas.
  Based on mitochondrial DNA sequences extracted from fossils, the lineages of Homotherium and Smilodon are estimated to have diverged about 18 Ma ago.
  The name 'saber-toothed tigers' is misleading. Machairodonts were not in the same subfamily as tigers, there is no evidence that they had tiger-like coat patterns, and this broad group of animals did not all live or hunt in the same manner as the modern tiger. DNA analysis published in 2005 confirmed and clarified cladistic analysis in showing that the Machairodontinae diverged early from the ancestors of modern cats and are not closely related to any living feline species.
  Saber-tooths also coexisted in many places with conical-toothed cats. In Africa and Eurasia, sabertooth cats competed with several pantherines and cheetahs until the early or middle Pleistocene. Homotherium survived in northern Europe even until the late Pleistocene. In the Americas, they coexisted with the cougar, American lion, American cheetah, and jaguar until the late Pleistocene. Saber-toothed and conical-toothed cats competed with each other for food resources, until the last of the former became extinct. All recent felids have more or less conical-shaped upper canines.
caption: A male Amphimachairodus giganteus was one of the largest machairodonts. It dwarfs its modern relative, the common house cat, Felis catus.
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