Nimravidae

Nimravidae is an extinct family of carnivorans, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, whose fossils are found in North America, Africa, and Eurasia. Nimravids were the first lineage of carnivorans to evolve large body sizes and specialized into hunting large bodied prey. Not considered to belong to the true cats (family Felidae), the nimravids are generally considered closely related and classified as a distinct family in the suborder Feliformia. The family consisted of three subfamilies hoplophonines, nimravines, and barbourofelines. Barboroufelines were initially classified as a subfamily of the Nimravidae since 1991, however in 2004, they were reassigned to their own distinct family. Since 2020, the majority of experts consider barbourofelines as nimravids again. Nimravids first appeared in the Middle Eocene in Asia, with Maofelis being the most plesiomorphic taxa. The family went extinct around 7 Ma.