Asiavorator

Asiavorator (meaning "Asian devourer") is an extinct genus of civet-like carnivoran belonging in the family Stenoplesictidae.

[2][3] The first remains of Asiavorator to be found were collected in the 1922 field season of the Central Asiatic Expeditions near the Loh campsite in Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia.

[5] Dashzeveg (1996) described a new species of stenoplesictid, Stenoplesictis simplex, based on a mandible (PSS 27-25) from the Ergilin Dzo Formation of Mongolia.

[5] Egi et al. (2016) made the same taxonomic placement for the genus, though they do state that the Mongolian small feliforms (Asiavorator, Alagtsavbaatar and Shandgolictis) appear to form a monophyletic clade relative to the European genera Stenoplesictis, Palaeoprionodon and Haplogale, which independently evolved hypercarnivory.

[8] The oldest known fossils of Asiavorator originate from the late Eocene-aged Ergilin Dzo Formation of Mongolia, suggesting the genus first evolved during the Ergilian age.

Sedimentary analyses suggest the Ergilin Dzo Formation was a floodplain environment with a braided stream network formed by fluvial systems.

[11] In this environment, sympatric predators included the nimravids Nimravus and Eofelis, the entelodontid Entelodon, and the related stenoplesictid Alagtsavbaatar.

[8][12] Most known specimens of Asiavorator were found in the Hsanda Gol Formation, which is dated to around 33.4 to 31 million years ago (early Oligocene).

[13] Many types of small mammals would have coexisted with Asiavorator in this habitat, such as several rodent species, the lagomorph Desmatolagus and the erinaceid Palaeoscaptor.

[14][15] Sympatric predators included several species of Hyaenodon, the feliforms Shandgolictis, Nimravus and Palaeogale, the amphicynodontids Amphicynodon and Amphicticeps, and the didymoconids Didymoconus and Ergilictis.

Top and side views of the teeth in the specimen AMNH 19123