Plioviverrops

Plioviverrops; Temporal range: Early Miocene to Early Pliocene (Orleanian) to (Ruscinian)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Hyaenidae
Genus:	†Plioviverrops; Kretzoi, 1938
Type species
	†Plioviverrops orbignyi; Gaudry & Lartet, 1856
Other species
	†P. gervaisi De Beaumont & Mein, 1972; †P. gaudryi De Beaumont & Mein, 1972; †P. faventinus Torre, 1989; †P. guerini? Villalta Comella & Crusafont Pairó, 1945;
Synonyms
	Genus synonymy Jourdanictis Viret, 1951 ; Mesoviverrops De Beaumont & Mein, 1972 ; Protoviverrops De Beaumont & Mein, 1972 ; Species synonymy P. orbignyi: Viverra orbignyi Gaudry & Lartet, 1856 ; Thalassictis orbignyi Gaudry & Lartet, 1861 ; Ictitherium orbignyi Gaudry & Lartet, 1862 ; ; P. gervaisi: Prognetta? cf. praecurrens Dehm, 1950 ; ; P. gaudryi: Jourdanictis grivensis Viret, 1951 ; ; P. guerini: Herpestes guerini Villalta Comella & Crusafont Pairó, 1945 ; ;

Plioviverrops is an extinct genus of hyaenids that were native to Europe throughout the Miocene and Early Pliocene. Plioviverrops is unique among most hyaenids in its gradual development towards more hypocarnivorous dentition as opposed to most hyaenids which evolved to have hypercarnivorous dentition. As P. orbignyi had especially reduced and simplified dentition, it has been proposed that P. orbignyi may be ancestral to the genus Proteles, including the modern aardwolf. Plioviverrops may be a paraphyletic group.

Plioviverrops is among the limited number of hyaenid genera that avoided extinction during the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, when canids first arrived in Eurasia.