Research overview: the split between conical-toothed and sabertoothed cats

This overview examines the deep evolutionary divergence within Felidae between the Felinae, the conical-toothed cats that include all living species, and the Machairodontinae, the extinct sabertooths. Both subfamilies are thought to have arisen from Pseudaelurus-grade ancestors during the Miocene, after which the sabertooth lineage developed elongated canines and specialized killing mechanics while the feline lineage retained more generalized dentition. The survey reviews the morphological and, where available, molecular evidence bearing on the timing and nature of this split, the early members of each subfamily, and why the machairodonts left no living descendants. It frames this basal divergence as one of the most consequential branch points in cat evolution, separating the familiar cats of today from a vanished sabertooth world.