Dissopsalis carnifex

Dissopsalis (Dissopsalis Pilgrim, 1910)

Class: Mammalia

Order: Creodonta

Family: †Hyaenodontidae

Time period:  during the middle Miocene (Africa) - late Miocene (Asia)

Size: Up to‭ 1,2‭ ‬meters long, tail length - 90 cm, 50 ‬cm tall at the shoulder.  Weight estimated at up to‭ 30‭ ‬kg.

A typical representative: Dissopsalis carnifex

Dissopsalis is a genus of extinct predatory mammals of the family Hyaenodontidae. The older species, D. pyroclasticus, lived in Kenya during the middle Miocene, while the type species, D. carnifex, ranged from, Pakistan, India to China during the middle to late Miocene (Barry, 1988).

Dissopsalis is the last known hyaenodontid genus. It lived alongside its relative Hyaenodon weilini, a member of the very successful genus Hyaenodon, during the Miocene in China, and survived to the end of the Miocene, whereas H. weilini did not.