Thylacosmilus fossil map
Where fossils of Thylacosmilus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 5 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 5 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 | 8–2.58 million years ago (Tortonian to Piacenzian) |
| Periods | Neogene |
| Family | Thylacosmilidae |
| Named by | Riggs 1933 |
| Fossil records | 24 occurrences at 10 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Argentina |
| Rock formations | Cerro Azul, Corral Quemado, Epecuén, Ituzaingo, Andalhuala, Brochero |
About Thylacosmilus
Thylacosmilus is an extinct genus of saber-toothed metatherian mammals that inhabited South America from the Late Miocene to Late Pliocene epochs. Though Thylacosmilus looks similar to the "saber-toothed cats", it was not a felid, like the well-known American Smilodon, but a sparassodont, a group closely related to marsupials, and only superficially resembled other saber-toothed mammals due to convergent evolution, with the aforementioned Thylacosmilus being one of the last known sparassodonts. A 2005 study found that the bite forces of Thylacosmilus and Smilodon were low, which indicates that the killing techniques of saber-toothed animals differed from those of extant species. Remains of Thylacosmilus have been found primarily in Catamarca, Entre Ríos, and La Pampa Provinces in northern Argentina. Mass estimates of Thylacosmilus have varied depending on mass regressions, weighing 41–150 kg (90–331 lb), this makes Thylacosmilus one of the largest known metatherian predators.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Thylacosmilus (revision 1379845842), 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: Q131163.
