Aeluroidea, Ailuroidea, or Feloidea is the name of a taxon (infraorder or superfamily) comprising cat-like Carnivora. More specifically the taxon comprises:[Bonis L. de, Ekrt B., Kunstmüllerová L., Martínek K., Rapprich V. & Wagner J. 2024. — New early aeluroid carnivoran (Mammalia, Carnivora, Feliformia) from the classical palaeontological locality Valeč, the Czech Republic. Geodiversitas 46 (1): 1-12. p. 4 [1]][Feliformia, Pan-Feliformia. In: ][R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698][H. N. Bryant. 1991. Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of the Nimravidae (Carnivora). Journal of Mammalogy 72(1):56-78][Burgin, Connor & Widness, Jane & Upham, Nathan. (2020). Introduction to Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World. 10.5281/zenodo.4270050. [2]]
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either cat-like Carnivora in the broader sense, i.e. it is synonymous with Feliformia (more specifically either Feliformia sensu stricto, i.e. crown Feliformia, or Feliformia sensu lato, i.e. Pan-Feliformia);
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or cat-like Carnivora in the narrower sense, i.e. it comprises only the family Felidae (recently also Prionodontidae) and its closest extinct relatives.
The Aeluroidea in the first, i.e. broader sense, has been sometimes called infraorder
Aeluroida since 1982.
[FLYNN, J. J., GALIANO, H. 1982. Phylogeny of early Tertiary Carnivora, with a description of a new species of Protictis from the middle Eocene of northwestern Wyoming. American Museum Novitates 2725:1-64][Feloidea. In: ] The name
Feloidea is sometimes used in a third sense—it designates the taxon corresponding to all Feliformia except the family
Nandiniidae.
[WIIG, O. (1985). Relationship of Nandinia binotata (Gray) to the Superfamily Feloidea (Mammalia, Carnivora). Zoologica Scripta, 14(2), 155–159]
In the main system used here, the name Aeluroidea refers to the crown Feliformia ( Feliformia sensu stricto) and has the rank of an infraorder, and Feloidea refers to the Felidae, Prionodontidae and their extinct closest relatives and has the rank of a superfamily.
Taxonomy
Aeluroidea was named by William Henry Flower in 1869 as one of three sections of the fissipedal Carnivora, the other two sections being the Cynoidea and the Arctoidea.[FLOWER, W. H. On the Value of the Characters of the Base of the Cranium in the Classification of the Order Carnivora, and on the Systematic Position of Bassaris and other Disputed Forms. Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London. 1869. p. 4 et seqq, specifically p. 22] Since then, it has continued to be assigned to the Carnivora. Within Carnivora it is classified—depending on the author and the definition of the taxon (see above)—either as synonymous with Feliformia or as a part of Feliformia.[
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Characteristics
Aeluroidea (in the sense of crown Feliformia) comprises species that are, or were, endemic to all continents except Antarctica and Australia, with having been introduced to Australia.
Crown Feliformia (more specifically the Viverridae) are attested since the early Eocene, since about ; they are more frequently attested since the early Oligocene, since about .
