M. cultridens M. falconeri M. whitei Megantereon is an extinct genus of prehistoric machairodontine saber-toothed cat that lived in Eurasia, Africa and possibly North America from the late Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene.

In addition to the two teeth of Megantereon, Cuvier included another, much older tooth from the late Miocene of Eppelsheim in Germany in the species, which is now known to belong to the unrelated sabertooth cat Machairodus aphanistus.

As scientists were unfamiliar with the concept of sabertooths at the time, they did not realise that a large upper canine from the site belonged to the same species, instead attributing it to Cuvier's Ursus cultridens.

[11] Some authors have proposed that the North American M. hesperus is the ancestor of all later Megantereon species, first appearing during the early Pliocene, and dispersing over the Bering Land Bridge around 3.5-3.0 million years ago.

[9] Other authors have considered this species, whose holotype specimen is a fragmentary lower jaw, indeterminate remains of Smilodontini, and therefore suggest that Megantereon is only unambiguously known from Afro-Eurasia.

[10] Remains from the Siwalik Hills in the northern Indian subcontinent dating to the Early Pleistocene, which are among the largest in the genus, have been attributed to the species M.

Mauricio Anton's reconstruction in The Big Cats and their Fossil Relatives depicts the full specimen found at Seneze in France at 72 centimetres (28 in) at the shoulder.

[19] It is thought to have used its powerful forelimbs to restrain prey,[20] and its long saber teeth to deliver a killing throat bite, severing most of the major nerves and blood vessels.

Megantereon also had relatively small carnassial teeth, indicating that once making a kill, it would have eaten its prey at a leisurely pace, either hidden deep in bushes or in a tree away from potential rivals.

[23] In this case Megantereon would have been unlike the earlier Promegantereon (thought to be its ancestor), but similar to the later Smilodon, which is believed to have spent its time on the ground.

[22] Isotopic analysis of Megantereon whitei from the Venta Micena locality in southeast Spain dating to the Early Pleistocene, around 1.6 million years ago, suggests that at this locality Megantereon hunted large ungulates, including the equine Equus altidens, the muskox-relative Soergelia, and the giant deer Praemegaceros with the prey likely being ambushed from areas on the boundary between forest and savannah.

[27] Kills made by Megantereon have been suggested to have left a significant amount of carrion to other predators, with the felid's leftovers probably being frequently being scavenged by both hominins and hyaenids.