Hyaenictitherium

Hyaenictitherium
Temporal range: Late Miocene to Pliocene (Turolian to Ruscinian) Vallesian if Hyaenotherium is included
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
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
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

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, whereas the smaller H. minimum was close in size to a jackal. Hyaenictitherium may represent a paraphyletic group.

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) should be included in Hyaenictitherium.