Hyaenodonta

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Hyaenodonta ("hyena teeth") is an extinct order of mostly carnivorous placental mammals of clade Pan-Carnivora from mirorder Ferae. Hyaenodonts were important mammalian predators that are believed to have arose either in the Late Cretaceous or Early Paleocene within Europe or North America, and persisted well into the Late Miocene. Hyaenodonts were found across Africa, Eurasia, and North America throughout the Cenozoic and occupied a variety of ecosystems, from forests to coastlines. They displayed a variety of body shapes, diet, and sizes, ranging from ambush predators like Hyainailouros to pounce-pursuit predators like some species of Hyaenodon. The order currently consists of three superfamilies, Hyaenodontoidae, Hyainailouroidea, and Limnocyonoidea, in addition to smaller groups such as the Galecyon clade. The hyaenodontoids consisted of Hyaenodontidae and Proviverrinae, the hyainailouroids consisted of Hyainailouridae, Prionogalidae, and Teratodontidae, and with the limnocyonoids consisted of Limocyoninae, Sinopinae, and Arfiinae. Hyaenodonts saw their diversification peak during the Middle-Late Eocene, before seeing a significant decline in diversity following the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event. In Afro-Arabia and Europe, they saw a recovery in diversity following the extinction event before seeing a terminal decline something during the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene respectively. The last hyaenodont would go extinct 7.5 Ma. The extinction of the order has been debated by experts, many experts argued that their extinction was the result of competition with carnivorans. But over the recent years, many experts have questioned that hypothesis and argued their decline and extinction in most of their range was due to climatic changes.