Metailurus is a genus of false saber-toothed cat

Saber-toothed cat

Saber-toothed cat or Sabre-toothed cat refers to the extinct subfamilies of Machairodontinae , Barbourofelidae , and Nimravidae as well as two families related to marsupials that were found worldwide from the Eocene Epoch to the end of the Pleistocene Epoch ,...

 of the family 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...

, belonging to the tribe Metailurini

Metailurini

Metailurini is an extinct tribe of large saber-toothed cats of the subfamily Felinae, that lived in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America during the Miocene to Pleistocene living from 11.610 mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately ....

 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...

, 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...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, 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...

 during the Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 to Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

, living from 9 Ma—11,000 years ago and existed for approximately .

Metailurus was named by Zdansky (1924). It was assigned to Felidae by Carroll (1988).

Metailurus is known as a "false sabertooth" cat because, instead of true saberteeth, it has a cross between long, flat and blade-like saberteeth and the shorter cone-shaped teeth of modern-day felines. The canines are longer than even the Clouded Leopard

Clouded Leopard

The clouded leopard is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN...

but significantly shorter than true saber teeth and more conical than bladed. Due to the fragmentary nature of Metailurus fossils, the number of species is subject to debate.