Ictitherium

Ictitherium Temporal range: (Vallesian to Turolian)
Skeletal mount, Tianjin Natural History Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Placentalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Hyaenidae
Subfamily:	†Ictitheriinae
Genus:	†Ictitherium Wagner, 1848
Type species
†Ictitherium viverrinum Roth & Wagner, 1854
Species
†I. tauricum Borissiak, 1915 †I. pannonicum Kretzoi, 1952 †I. intuberculatum Ozansoy, 1965 †I. ibericum Meladze, 1967 †I. kurteni Werdelin, 1988
Synonyms
Genus synonymy Paraictitherium Ducrotay, 1903 Leptohyaena Depéret, 1914 Sinictitherium Zhongjian, 1937 Galeotherium Wagner, 1840 Species synonymy I. viverrinum: Galeotherium gen. nov. Wagner, 1840 Ictitherium robustum (Nadmann, 1859) Gaudry, 1862 Thalassictis gracilis Hensel, 1862 Thalassictis viverrina (Roth & Wagner, 1852) Hensel, 1862 Ictitherium gaudryi Zdansky, 1924 Ictitherium sinense Zdansky, 1924 Palhyaena? gaudryi Zdansky, 1938 Sinictitherium sinense Kretzoi, 1938 I. tauricum: Protictitherium? tauricum (Borissiak, 1915) Schmidt-Kittler, 1976 Protictitherium crassum Depéret, 1976 I. pannonicum: Palhyaena hungarica Kretzoi, 1938 Ictitherium cf. robustum Nordmann, 1952 Thalassictis aff. hipparionum (Gervais, 1846) Adrover et al., 1986 I. ibericum: Melinae gen. Meladze, 1967

Ictitherium (meaning "weasel beast") is an extinct genus belonging to the family Hyaenidae and the subfamily Ictitheriinae erected by Trouessart in 1897.¹ Ictitherium lived throughout Eurasia during the Late Miocene.²

Ictitherium were mid-sized gracile hyenas around 1.2 metres (4 ft) long. Their morphology is convergent with that of the maned wolf, with long, stilt-like gracile legs that likely helped it stride through the tall grass of the savannas and grasslands it inhabited.³

It is speculated that I. viverrinum was an opportunistic feeder,⁴ and that it ate plants as well as medium-small mammals and birds.⁵ It would have consumed bone, as its teeth were much more suited for osteophagy than more basal hyaenids because its Hunter-Schreger bands (HSBs) were zigzag throughout the enamel with the exception of the cervix.⁶ I. viverrinum occupied a similar ecological niche as and competed with Hyaenictitherium wongii.⁷ Ictitherium was a very successful and abundant genus, with multiple fossils often being found at a single site.⁸ Based on studies of its limb morphology, it likely stalked through tall grass on its stilt-like legs, searching for prey before pouncing much like the modern maned wolf.³