From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Smilodontini is an extinct tribe of "saber-toothed cats", contained within the Machairodontinae subfamily of the Felidae. As the name suggests, the famous genus of Smilodon is part of this group, but there are also two other distinct genera in Smilodontini. This tribe came into being about 20 mya with the genus Paramachairodus and only became extinct 10,000 years ago with Smilodon. Various species of Smilodontini have lived in Africa, Eurasia, North America and South America. All of these are dirk-toothed cats, maning that they have long narrow upper canines and stocky, well muscled proportions.
