Feliformia is a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of "cat-like" carnivorans, including cats (large and small), hyenas, mongooses, viverrids, and related taxa.

Feliformia stands in contrast to the other suborder of Carnivora, Caniformia consisting of "dog-like" carnivorans (includes Canoidea).

[1] The separation of the Carnivora into the broad groups of feliforms and caniforms is widely accepted, as is the definition of Feliformia and Caniformia as suborders (sometimes superfamilies).

The classification of feliforms as part of the Feliformia suborder or under separate groupings continues to evolve.

Systematic classifications dealing with only extant taxa include all feliforms into the Feliformia suborder, though variations exist in the definition and grouping of families and genera.

All extant feliforms share a common attribute: their auditory bullae (bony capsules enclosing the middle and inner ear).

[9] The specific characteristics of extant feliform bullae suggest a common ancestor, though one has not been identified in the fossil records.

Feliforms tend to have shorter rostrums (snouts) than caniforms, fewer teeth, and more specialized carnassials.

For detailed taxa and descriptions of the species in each family, follow the links to other articles and external references.

However, phylogenetic analysis of DNA provides strong evidence that all Malagasy carnivorans evolved from a single common ancestor that was a herpestid (Yoder et al.

Diet varies with size and form of the species and, like their mainland counterparts, ranges from small mammals, insects and invertebrates through to crustaceans and molluscs.

Diet ranges from large to small mammals, birds and insects (depending on species size).

Diet varies based on species size and available food sources, ranging from small mammals, birds to reptiles, insects and crabs.

Family Nandiniidae (the African palm civet) has only one species (Nandinia binotata), extant across sub-Saharan Africa.

[7] In the Middle Eocene (about 42 mya), the miacids started to branch into two distinct groups of the order Carnivora: the Feliforms and Caniforms.

As forest dwellers, the early Feliforms were subject to more rapid decomposition in the absence of sedimentary materials, resulting in large gaps in the fossil records.

For more discussion on feliform evolution and the divergence from the caniforms, together with additional external references on this subject, see the articles on Carnivora, Miacoidea and Carnivoramorpha.

The phylogenetic relationships of feliforms are shown in the following cladogram[16][20][21][22] †Nimravidae (false saber-toothed cats) Nandiniidae (African palm civet) Viverridae (viverrids) Herpestidae (mongooses) Eupleridae (Malagasy mongooses) †Lophocyonidae †Percrocutidae Hyaenidae (hyenas) †Haplogale Prionodontidae (Asiatic linsangs) †Barbourofelidae †Stenogale Felidae (cats)