Yoshi (genus)

Yoshi is an extinct genus of machairodontine sabertooth cat in the tribe Metailurini. Its fossils were described from Turolian deposits from the Miocene epoch of the Balkan Peninsula in 2014 and specimens from China once thought to belong to Metailurus. The name comes from that of the lead author's pet cat. It has been described as potentially being synonymous with Metailurus, though this is difficult to confirm at present. The type specimen is a skull that bears remarkable similarities with the modern cheetah. Yoshi is intermediate in size between a lynx and cougar, and based on several as-yet unpublished skeletons (as of 2014), may have had a similar lifestyle to the cheetah, being better built for speed and fast pursuit than most other machairodonts, which were more suited to ambush and hunting large, relatively slow moving animals.[1][2]

Yoshi
Temporal range: Late Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: †Machairodontinae
Tribe: †Metailurini
Genus: †Yoshi
Spassov and Geraads, 2014
Species
  • †Y. garevskii Spassov and Geraads, 2014
  • †Y. minor Zdansky, 1924
Synonyms

Metailurus minor Zdansky, 1924

References
  1. Spassov, Nikolai (2014-05-15). "A New Felid from the Late Miocene of the Balkans and the Contents of the Genus Metailurus Zdansky, 1924 (Carnivora, Felidae)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 22: 45–56. doi:10.1007/s10914-014-9266-5.
  2. "Metailurus or Yoshi? Meet the real cats behind the names | chasing sabretooths". Chasingsabretooths.wordpress.com. 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
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