Aeluroidea is an extant and extinct superfamily

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...

 of feline

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

-like carnivores which are or were endemic to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. They appeared during the Oligocene

Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...

 about .

This superfamily includes extant families of: Felidae

Felidae

Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...

 (cats), Herpestidae (mongoose), Hyaenidae, Nandinia (civet) and the extinct Africanictis

Africanictis

Africantis is an extinct species of carnivorous cat-like mammals belonging to the superfamily Aeluroidea, endemic to Africa from the Miocene 23.03—11.610 Ma, existing for approximately ....

, Anictis

Anictis

Anictis is an extinct species of carnivorous cat-like mammal belonging to the superfamily Aeluroidea, endemic to Europe living from the Oligocene 33.9—28.4 Ma, existing for approximately ....

, Asiavorator

Asiavorator

Asiavorator is an extinct species of carnivorous, cat-like civet endemic to Asia.The teeth of Asiavorator suggest that the beasts were omnivorous or more precisely, ranged from hypercarnivorous to mesocarnivorous.-Taxonomy:...

, Haplogale, Herpestides

Herpestides

Herpestides is an extinct genus of terrestrial carnivore the family Hyaenidae, endemic to North Africa and Southern Europe during the Early Miocene subepoch existing for approximately .-Taxonomy:...

, Mioprionodon, Moghradictis

Moghradictis

Moghradictis is an extinct species of carnivorous cat-like mammals belonging to the superfamily Aeluroidea, endemic to North Africa from the Miocene 23.03—15.97 Ma, existing for approximately ....

, Palaeoprionodon, Proailurus

Proailurus

Proailurus was a prehistoric carnivore that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. One recent phylogeny places it as a basal member of the Feloidea, the superfamily that includes mongooses, civets, hyenas, and cats; but other studies suggest...

, Shandgolictis, Stenogale, and Stenoplesictis

Stenoplesictis

Stenoplesictis is an extinct genus of carnivorous cat-like mammals belonging to the superfamily Aeluroidea, endemic to Europe from the Oligocene 33.9—28.4 Ma, existing for approximately ....

.

Taxonomy

Aeluroidea was named by Flower (1869). It is extant. It was assigned to Carnivora by Flower (1883) and Carroll (1988); and to Feliformia by Bryant (1991).