Quercygale
Quercygale is an extinct genus of placental mammals from the clade Carnivoraformes, that lived in Europe during the early to late Eocene.
Relation to other taxa
Currently, Quercygale is either assigned to no family or it is assigned to the paraphyletic family Miacidae. Phylogenetic analysis of the basicranial morphology of carnivoramorphans suggests that Quercygale is the most advanced member of the clade Carnivoraformes as a sister taxon to crown-clade Carnivora, predating the split between Feliformia and Caniformia. Another recent study, however, has proposed that the genus Quercygale should be placed as a stem group within Feliformia.In the past, Quercygale was assigned either to the family Miacidae, or to the family Viverravidae. Only one author classified it as the only genus of its own family Quercygalidae. Alternatively, individual authors considered Quercygale to be a basal genus of Caniformia or a synonym of the genus Tapocyon.