HOPLOPHONEUS MUSEUM QUALITY SKULL

Hoplophoneus skull. Replica. Hoplophoneus is the ancestor of all Saber Tooth Cats, first appearing 35 million years ago and surviving for nearly 10 million years. This delicate museum quality replica, which measures 7 in x 4 in x 3 in was cast from a fossilized reconstruction.

Hoplophoneus was a member of the family Nimravidae. Originating roughly 55 million years ago, this family would eventually give rise to the civets, the mongooses, and hyenas. The Hoplophoneus species were structured like the Smilodon species including the saber-like teeth but were about the size of a small leopard. It had a robust body with shorter legs. Hoplophoneus was similar to cats in outward appearance but the Nimravidae were not true cats. Bone structure was different in the small bones of the inner ear. True cats housed an external structure called an auditory bulla separated by a septum with two chambers. Nimravidae remains showed no trace of this auditory bulla. Nimravidae had partially cartilaginous bulla and the presence of an ossified bulla with no septum. They also had a flange on the front of the mandible that projected downward as long as the canine tooth.