Ictitherium is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 belonging to the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Hyaenidae and the subfamily Ictitheriinae erected by Trouessart in 1897. Ictitherium species were endemic to Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

 and 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...

 during the Middle Miocene

Middle Miocene

The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene....

 through the Early Pliocene (12.7—5.3 mya) and existed approximately .

Ictitherium were around 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) long, and looked more like civet

Civet

The family Viverridae is made up of around 30 species of medium-sized mammal, including all of the genets, the binturong, most of the civets, and the two African linsangs....

s than modern hyenas, possessing a long body with short legs. Judging from the teeth, they were insectivore

Insectivore

An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures. An alternate term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of eating insects....

s. Ictitherium was a very successful and abundant genus, with multiple fossils often often being found at a single site. Possibly, this early hyena genus lived in packs and had a social order, much like its modern descendants.

Species

• I. viverrinum
• I. syvalense
• ?I. arambourgi
• ?I. gaudryi
• ?I. hipparionum
• ?I. orbingyi
• ?I. sinence
• ?I. preforfex