Nimravus Cope, 1879

Bonis, Louis de, Gardin, Axelle & Blondel, Cécile, 2019, Carnivora from the early Oligocene of the ‘ Phosphorites du Quercy’ in southwestern France, Geodiversitas 41 (15), pp. 601-621 : 615

Nimravus Cope, 1879

TYPE SPECIES. — Machaerodus brachyops Cope, 1878 by original designation.

REMARKS

The genus was created by Cope (1879) for the species M. brachyops from the Oligocene of Nebraska, United States ( Cope 1878). One year later, he changed the generic name to Nimravus . The type species is widespread in North America in the middle to late Oligocene ( Toohey, 1959). A European species, Nimravus intermedius ( Filhol 1872a) has characters that are so close to those of N. brachyops that Toohey wrote, “I cannot, with the available materials and excellent figures in Piveteau’s study, distinguish any consistent morphological differences between N. brachyops and N.intermedius ”. ( Toohey 1959: 95). In Europe, Nimravus was present in early and middle Oligocene strata.