Cryptoprocta spelea

Cryptoprocta spelea Temporal range: Holocene
Conservation status
Extinct (pre 1658)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Eupleridae
Genus:	Cryptoprocta
Species:	†C. spelea
Binomial name
†Cryptoprocta spelea G. Grandidier, 1902
Subfossil sites for Cryptoprocta species: blue—C. spelea; green—C. ferox and C. spelea; red—C. ferox[2]
Synonyms[3]
Cryptoprocta ferox var. spelea G. Grandidier, 1902 Cryptoprocta spelea: Petit, 1935 Cryptoprocta antamba Lamberton, 1939

Cryptoprocta spelea, also known as the giant fossa,^[4] is an extinct species of carnivore from Madagascar in the family Eupleridae which is most closely related to the mongooses and includes all Malagasy carnivorans.

It was first described in 1902, and in 1935 was recognized as a separate species from its closest relative, the living fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox). C. spelea was larger than the fossa, but otherwise similar. The two have not always been accepted as distinct species. When and how C. spelea became extinct is unknown; there is some anecdotal evidence, including reports of very large fossas, that there is more than one surviving species.

The species is known from subfossil bones found in a variety of caves in northern, western, southern, and central Madagascar. In some sites, it occurs with remains of C. ferox, but there is no evidence that the two lived in the same places at the same time. Living species of comparably sized, related carnivores in other regions manage to coexist, suggesting that the same may have happened with both C. spelea and C. ferox. C. spelea would have been able to prey on larger animals than its smaller relative could have, including the recently extinct giant lemurs.