English: Xenosmilus hodsonae Martin et al., 2000 - fossil panda cat skull from the Pleistocene of Florida, USA. (cast - apparently a reproduction of the paratype specimen UF 60000, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA) (public display, University of Wyoming Geological Museum, Laramie, Wyoming, USA)

This skull is a famous, recently-discovered fossil cat called Xenosmilus hodsonae. Fossils of this species have only been reported from Florida. The type material comes from cave sediments that may have been a den site for the cats (see Martin et al., 2000, p. 44). Platygonus bones were associated with the Xenosmilus material. Platygonus is an extinct peccary (pig). The peccaries may have been food animals for the Xenosmilus cats.

Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Placentalia, Carnivora, Felidae

Geologic context: Lower Pleistocene sinkhole/cave fill sediments hosted in the Eocene Ocala Limestone

Locality: commercial limestone quarry in Alachua County (University of Florida collecting site Haile 21A), northern Florida, USA

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Some info. from: Martin et al. (2000) - Three ways to be a saber-tooth cat. Naturwissenschaften 87: 41-44.

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See info. at: www.flmnh.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/xeno... and

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenosmilus