Felinae

The Felinae or small cats are a subfamily of the Felidae distinguished by a bony hyoid, because of which they can purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily, as comprising only the living conical-toothed cat genera, with two tribes, the Felini and Pantherini, and excluding the extinct sabre-toothed Machairodontinae.

==Characteristics== The members of the Felinae have retractile claws that are protected by at least one cutaneous lobe. Their larynx is kept close to the base of the skull by an ossified hyoid. They can purr owing to the vocal folds being shorter than . The cheetah Acinonyx does not have cutaneous sheaths for guarding claws.