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| Chasmaporthetes Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| C. lunensis skull | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Hyaenidae |
| Subfamily: | Hyaeninae |
| Genus: | †Chasmaporthetes Hay, 1921 |
| Species | |
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See text | |
| Synonyms | |
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Euryboas | |
Chasmaporthetes, also known as hunting or running hyena, is an extinct genus of hyenas[1][2][3][4] distributed in Eurasia, North America, and Africa during the Pliocene-Pleistocene epochs, living from 4.9 million to 780,000 years ago, existing for about 4.12 million years.[5] The genus probably arose from Eurasian Miocene hyenas such as Thalassictis or Lycyaena, with C. borissiaki being the oldest known representative.[6] The species C. ossifragus was the only hyena to cross the Bering land bridge into the Americas, and ranged over what is now Arizona and Mexico during Blancan and early Irvingtonian Land Mammal ages, between 5.0 and 1.5 million years ago.[6][4]
Chasmaporthetes was one of the so-called "dog-like" hyenas (of which the aardwolf is the only survivor), a hyaenid group which, in contrast to the now more common "bone-crushing" hyenas, evolved into slender-limbed, cursorial hunters like modern canids.[4]
- ^ O. P. Hay. 1921. Descriptions of species of Pleistocene Vertebrata, types or specimens of most of which are preserved in the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 59:599-642
- ^ D. Geraads. 1997. Carnivores du Pliocene terminal de Ahl al Oughlam (Casablanca, Maroc). Géobios 30(1):127-164
- ^ J. J. Flynn. 1998. Early Cenozoic Carnivora ("Miacoidea"). In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1:110-123
- ^ a b c Macdonald, David (1992) The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores, p. 119-144, New York: Parkwest, ISBN 0-563-20844-9
- ^ PaleoBiology Database: Chasmaporthetes, basic info
- ^ a b Kurtén, Björn (1980) Pleistocene mammals of North America, p. 199, Columbia University Press, 1980, ISBN 0-231-03733-3