Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivoran mammals of the family Felidae. They were found in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, living from about 16 million until about 10,000 years ago.
Machairodontinae
Undersides of the skulls of two Smilodon
Skull of Smilodon fatalis at maximum gape (128°)
Skull of a domestic cat, at maximum gape (80°)
Extinction is the termination of a taxon by the death of its last member. A taxon may become functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to reproduce and recover. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" after a period of apparent absence.
Extinction
The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is an example of an extinct species.
External mold of the extinct Lepidodendron from the Upper Carboniferous of Ohio
The dodo of Mauritius, shown here in a 1626 illustration by Roelant Savery, is an often-cited example of modern extinction.