Acinonyx pardinensis

Acinonyx pardinensis
Skull, Museum of Paleontology in Florence, Italy
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Acinonyx
Species:
A. pardinensis
Binomial name
Acinonyx pardinensis
(Croizet & Jobert, 1828)
Synonyms
  • Felis pardinensis Croizet & Jobert, 1828
  • Felis elata Bravard in Gervais, 1859
  • Cynailurus etruscus Del Camp, 1915
  • Cynailurus elatus sensu Schaub, 1939
  • Schaubia vireti Schaub, 1942

Acinonyx pardinensis, sometimes called the giant cheetah, is an extinct felid species belonging to the genus Acinonyx, closely related to the cheetah, native to Eurasia from Late Pliocene to the early Middle Pleistocene epoch from around 3 million to around 500,000 years ago. It was substantially larger than the living cheetah.