Research overview: Barbourofelidae and a third sabertooth radiation

This overview surveys the Barbourofelidae, a group of sabertooth-bearing carnivores, including the formidable Barbourofelis, that represent yet another independent acquisition of the sabertooth form distinct from both true cats and nimravids. Often allied with the feliform carnivorans, these heavily built predators possessed enormous canines and bony chin flanges on the lower jaw that helped protect and guide the sabres. The survey reviews their late Miocene occurrence in North America and Eurasia, the debate over their exact relationships and whether they belong within or near the nimravid radiation, and their significance as a third major lineage to converge on sabertooth predation. It underscores how strongly the sabertooth ecomorph recurred across the carnivoran tree.