{{Short description|Extinct family of carnivores}} {{Automatic taxobox |fossil_range={{fossil range|65.0|33.9}} early Paleocene to late Eocene |image = Miacis parvivorus Cope.jpg |image_caption = skull of ''Miacis parvivorus'' |image2 = Vulpavus ovatus.JPG |image2_caption = skeleton of ''Vulpavus ovatus'' |taxon = Miacidae |authority = Cope, 1880<ref>E. D. Cope (1880.) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/982610.pdf "On the genera of the Creodonta."] Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 19:76-82</ref> |type_genus = †''Miacis'' |type_genus_authority = Cope, 1872 |subdivision_ranks = Genera |subdivision = {{center|[see classification]}} |synonyms = {{collapsible list |bullets=true |title=list of synonyms: |Cercoleptoidei {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}}<ref>W. D. Matthew (1909) [https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/5744 "The Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger Basin, middle Eocene."] Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 9:289-567</ref> |Cynoidei {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}} |Eucreodi {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}} |Eucreodontia {{small|(Simionescu, 1928)}} |Miacida {{small|(Haeckel, 1895)}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Ernst |last=Haeckel |title=Systematische Phylogenie: Wirbelthiere |url=https://archive.org/details/systematischephy03haec/page/601 |year=1895 |location=Berlin |publisher=G. Reimer |volume=T.3 |language=de}}</ref> |Miacinae {{small|(Trouessart, 1885)}}<ref>Trouessart, E. L. (1885) [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/209168#page/13/mode/1up "Note sur le classification des Analgésiens et diagnoses d'espèces et de genres nouveaux."] Bulletin de la Société d'études scientifiques d'Angers, 14, 46–89. [Publ. February, 1885. for year 1884.]</ref> |Miacini {{small|(Kalandadze & Rautian, 1992)}}<ref>Kalandadze, N. N. and S. A. Rautian (1992.) "Systema mlekopitayushchikh i istorygeskaya zoogeographei [The system of mammals and historical zoogeography]." Sbornik Trudov Zoologicheskogo Muzeya Moskovskogo Goschdarstvennoro Universiteta 29:44–152.</ref> |Miacoidae {{small|(Teilhard, 1915)}}<ref name="Tielhard1915">Tielhard de Chardin, P. (1915) [https://bibliotheques.mnhn.fr/EXPLOITATION/infodoc/digitalCollections/viewerpopup.aspx?seid=ANPAL_S000_1914_T009_N000 "Les carnassiers des phosphorites du Quercy"] Annales de Paléontologie, 9, 101–192</ref> |Miacoidea {{small|(Simpson, 1931)}} |Palaeocarnivora {{small|(Pavlova, 1927)}} |Quercygalidae {{small|(Kretzoi, 1945)}}<ref>Miklos Kretzoi (1945) "Bemerkungen über das Raubtiersystem." Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici, Budapest, vol. 38, pp. 59-83.</ref> |Uintacyonidae {{small|(Hay, 1902)}}<ref>O. P. Hay (1902.) [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/59973#page/9/mode/1up "Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America."] Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179:1-868</ref> |Vulpavidae {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}} }} }}
'''Miacidae''' ("small points"){{cn|date=January 2026}} is a former paraphyletic family of extinct primitive placental mammals that lived in North America, Europe and Asia during the Paleocene and Eocene epochs, about 65–33.9 million years ago.<ref name="McKenna & Bell">{{cite book |last1=McKenna |first1=Malcolm C. |last2=Bell |first2=Susan K. |title=Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLYifwU8bqQC&pg=PP9 |access-date=16 March 2015 |year=1997 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-11012-9}}</ref><ref>J. J. Flynn (1998.) "Early Cenozoic Carnivora ("Miacoidea")." In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott and L. L. Jacobs (''eds.'') [https://books.google.com/books?id=I-RgojcDyWYC "Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals."] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. {{ISBN|9780521355193}}</ref><ref name="FW">{{cite web |title=Miacidae in the Paleobiology Database |work=Fossilworks |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=40978 |access-date=17 December 2021}}</ref><ref name="IRMNG">IRMNG (2018). Miacidae Cope, 1880 †. Accessed at: http://www.irmng.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=102911 on 2019-01-22</ref> These mammals were basal to order Carnivora, the crown-group within the Carnivoraformes.
Miacids are thought to have evolved into the modern carnivorous mammals of the order Carnivora. They were small carnivores, superficially weasel-like or ferret-like with long, lithe bodies and long tails. Some species were arboreal, while others lived on the ground.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cost |first=Ian N. |title=Extinct Animal of the Week: Before Things Got Dire |url=https://dinooftheweek.blogspot.com/2013/10/before-things-got-dire.html |date=2013-10-02 |website=Extinct Animal of the Week |access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref>
They probably fed on invertebrates, lizards, birds, and smaller mammals like shrews and opossums. Their teeth and skulls show that the miacids were less developed than modern carnivorans. They had carnivoran-type carnassials, but lacked fully ossified auditory bullae (rounded protrusions).
==Classification== ===History of classification=== Miacidae as traditionally conceived is not a monophyletic group; it is a paraphyletic array of stem taxa. Traditionally, Miacidae and Viverravidae had been classified in a superfamily, Miacoidea. Today, Carnivora and Miacoidea are grouped together in the crown-clade Carnivoramorpha, and the Miacoidea are regarded as basal carnivoramorphs. Some species of the genus ''Miacis'' are closely related to the order Carnivora, but only the species ''Miacis australis'' and ''Miacis cognitus'' are true carnivorans, as they are classified in the family Amphicyonidae within Caniformia.
The divergence of carnivorans from miacids is now inferred to have occurred in the middle Eocene ({{circa}} 42 million years ago).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://redwolfspecies.weebly.com/ancestors.html |title=Ancestors |website=Red Wolf |access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref> Traditionally, the Viverravidae (viverravids) had been thought to be the earliest carnivorans, with fossil records first appearing in the Paleocene of North America about 66 million years ago, but recent cranial morphology evidence now places them outside the order Carnivora.<ref name=Polly>{{cite journal |last1=Polly |first1=David |last2=Wesley-Hunt |first2=Gina D. |last3=Heinrich |first3=Ronald E. |last4=Graham |first4=Davis |last5=Houde |first5=Peter |date=September 2006 |title=Earliest Known Carnivoran Auditory Bulla and Support for a Recent Origin of Crown-Clade Carnivora (Eutheria, Mammalia) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00586.x |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00586.x |journal=Palaeontology |volume=49 |issue=5 |pages=1019–1027 |doi-access=free |issn=0031-0239 |eissn=1475-4983 |publisher=The Palaeontological Association}}</ref> Later authorities disagreed, and propose that the viverravids arose in North America 66-60 million years ago, spread to Asia then later to Europe, and were the first carnivorans and possessed the first true pair of carnassial teeth.<ref name="Wang2008"/>{{rp|p8}}
It has been proposed that miacids arose in North America and Europe 60-50 million years ago then later spread to Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/Miacis |title=''Miacis'' {{!}} extinct mammal genus |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref> Like the earlier viverravids, they possessed a true pair of carnassial teeth and therefore are related to order Carnivora.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.catsurvivaltrust.org/evolution.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703033344/http://www.catsurvivaltrust.org/evolution.aspx |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 3, 2011 |title=The Cat Survival Trust |website=www.catsurvivaltrust.org |access-date=2019-02-18}}</ref> They also possessed a full set of cheek teeth, were weasel-to-small-fox-sized, and lived in forests. All modern carnivorans arose from them.<ref name="Wang2008">{{cite book |last1=Wang |first1= X. |last2=Tedford |first2= R. H. |author-link1=Xiaoming Wang (paleontologist) |author-link2=Richard H. Tedford |title=Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=degwyTaHLt8C&pg=PA9 |year=2008 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-13529-0 |oclc=822229250}}</ref>{{rp|p9}}
===Taxonomy=== * Family: †'''Miacidae''' {{small|(Cope, 1880)}} ** Genus: †''Chailicyon'' {{small|(Chow, 1975)}} ** Genus: †''Eogale'' {{small|(Beard & Dawson, 2009)}} ** Genus: †''Gracilocyon'' {{small|(Smith & Smith, 2010)}} ** Genus: †''Harpalodon'' {{small|(Marsh, 1872)}} ** Genus: †''Lycarion'' {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}} ** Genus: †''Messelogale'' {{small|(Springhorn, 2000)}} ** Genus: †''Miacis'' {{small|(Cope, 1872)}} ** Genus: †''Miocyon'' {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}} ** Genus: †''Neovulpavus'' {{small|(Wortman, 1901)}} ** Genus: †''Oodectes'' {{small|(Wortman, 1901)}} ** Genus: †''Palaearctonyx'' {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}} ** Genus: †''Paramiacis'' {{small|(Mathis, 1985)}} ** Genus: †''Paroodectes'' {{small|(Springhorn, 1980)}} ** Genus: †''Procynodictis'' {{small|(Wortman & Matthew, 1899)}} ** Genus: †''Prodaphaenus'' {{small|(Wortman & Matthew, 1899)}} ** Genus: †''Quercygale'' {{small|(Kretzoi, 1945)}} ** Genus: †''Simamphicyon'' {{small|(Viret, 1942)}} ** Genus: †''Tapocyon'' {{small|(Stock, 1934)}} ** Genus: †''Uintacyon'' {{small|(Leidy, 1872)}} ** Genus: †''Vassacyon'' {{small|(Matthew, 1909)}} ** Genus: †''Vulpavus'' {{small|(Marsh, 1871)}} ** Genus: †''Xinyuictis'' {{small|(Zheng, 1975)}} ** Genus: †''Zodiocyon'' {{small|(Tong & Wang, 2006)}}
===Phylogeny=== {{clade |style=font-size:85%;line-height:85%; |label1='''Ferungulata''' |1={{clade |1='''Euungulata''' 50px |label2='''Ferae''' |2={{clade |1='''Pholidota''' 60px |2={{clade |1=†'''Creodonta''' 55px |label2='''Carnivoramorpha''' |2={{clade |thickness2=2 |thickness3=2 |1=†'''Viverravidae''' |label2='''?'''|state2=dotted |2=†''Ravenictis'' |label3='''?'''|state3=dotted |3=†''"Sinopa" insectivorus'' |label4='''Carnivoraformes''' |4={{clade |thickness2=2 |1='''Carnivora''' 50px |color2=#B22222 |2=†'''Miacidae''' 55px }} }} }} }} }} }}
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2020380}}
Category:Obsolete mammal taxa Category:Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope