Megantereon fossil map
Where fossils of Megantereon have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 0 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 0 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 11.63 million years ago to the present (Tortonian to Holocene) |
| Periods | Neogene, Quaternary |
| Family | Felidae |
| Named by | Croizet and Jobert 1828 |
| Fossil records | 142 occurrences at 65 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | South Africa, Kenya, Spain, United States, France, Ethiopia, Greece, China, Tanzania, Romania … |
| Rock formations | txn:41045, Koobi Fora, Hadar, Kromdraai, Sterkfontein, Peace River |
About Megantereon
Megantereon is an extinct genus of prehistoric machairodontine saber-toothed cat that lived in Eurasia, Africa and possibly North America from the late Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene, first described by George Cuvier in 1824. It is a member of the tribe Smilodontini, and closely related to and possibly the ancestor of the more widely-known American sabertooth Smilodon, with which it shared greatly elongated saber canine teeth. In comparison to Smilodon, Megantereon was somewhat smaller, around the size of a jaguar, although it is thought to have had a similar hunting strategy as an ambush predator. Megantereon began to decline towards the end of the Early Pleistocene, becoming extinct in Africa first around 1.3 Ma and later in Europe around 1 Ma, surviving latest in East Asia into the Middle Pleistocene until sometime around 780-350,000 years ago. Environmental change, changes in prey availability, and competition from early humans have been suggested as reasons for its extinction.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Megantereon (revision 1369904238), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q133945.
