feliform

English

Some feliforms (clockwise from bottom left): African palm civet, spotted hyena, fossa, leopard, stripe-necked mongoose, African civet

Etymology

From Latin feles, felis (“cat”) + -form.

Adjective

feliform (comparative more feliform, superlative most feliform)

1. Resembling a cat; applied to member of the Feliformia, a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of cat-like carnivorans, including cats (large and small), hyenas, mongooses, civets, etc.

Translations

resembling cat

• Finnish: kissamainen (fi)

Noun

feliform (plural feliforms)

1. Any carnivore of the suborder Feliformia, which are regarded as cat-like.
   • 2010, Anjali Goswami, “1: Introduction to Carnivora”, in Anjali Goswami, Anthony Friscia, editors, Carnivoran Evolution, page 7:

     However, when extinct genera are included, caniforms far outnumber feliforms, with 244 extinct caniform genera to 76 extinct feliform genera, if nimravids are included with feliforms (McKenna and Bell, 1997).

   • 2011, Rebecca E. Fisher, “6: Red Panda Anatomy”, in Angela R. Glatston, editor, Red Panda: Biology and Conservation of the First Panda, page 96:

     This arrangement is also found in procyonids; however, in mustelids and feliforms, the artery and the nerve travel through the foramen [39].

   • 2013, Terry A. Vaughan, James M. Ryan, Nicholas J. Czaplewski, Mammalogy, page 285:

     In feliforms, two bones (ectotympanic and entotympanic) unite to form the bullae with a septum separating the two resulting chambers. […] Palm civets are considered basal to all feliforms because they are genetically distinct from other feliforms and retain primitive auditory bullae lacking a septum (Flynn and Nedbal 1998).

Anagrams

• life form, lifeform