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Homotherini (Machairodontini) is a tribe (or subtribe) [1] of saber-toothed cats of the family Felidae (true cats). The tribe is commonly known as scimitar-toothed cats.These saber-toothed cats were endemic to North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America [2] from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from c. 23 Ma until c. 12,000 years ago. [3]
Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all life on Earth.
The fact that small cats have an ERV where the larger cats do not suggests that the gene was inserted into the ancestor of the small cats after the larger cats had diverged. [35] Another example of this is with humans and chimps. Humans contain numerous ERVs that comprise a considerable percentage of the genome.
They are inferences based on patterns of relationship among taxa inferred in a phylogenetic analysis of extant organisms and/or fossils. [1] The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth, estimated to have lived some 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago (in the Paleoarchean). [2] [3] [note 1]
[4] [5] Charles Darwin more famously proposed the theory of universal common descent through an evolutionary process in his book On the Origin of Species in 1859: "Therefore I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first ...
A Sphynx cat, one of the cat breeds resulting from human breeding practices during the last century and a half. In 1871 only five cat breeds were recognized by an association in London. Today the USA based Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) recognizes 41 breeds [20] and The International Cat Association (TICA) recognizes 57 breeds. [21]
Cat species vary greatly in body and skull sizes, and weights: The largest cat species is the tiger (Panthera tigris), with a head-to-body length of up to 390 cm (150 in), a weight range of at least 65 to 325 kg (143 to 717 lb), and a skull length ranging from 316 to 413 mm (12.4 to 16.3 in).
Cat genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in domestic cats. In feline husbandry it can predict established traits ( phenotypes ) of the offspring of particular crosses. In medical genetics , cat models are occasionally used to discover the function of homologous human disease genes.