Fitaweskus

Fitaweskus (name meaning Slender murderer) was a mongoose mammal that was native to North America. They were about the size of a modern day Virginia opossum. Like their closest living relatives, the Indian grey mongoose, they were omnivorous that fed on mostly smaller animals, but also fed on some fruit. They first appeared in northeastern Siberia in the Middle Oligocene (31 mya) and first appeared in North America in the Late Oligocene (27 mya), but they somehow became extinct in Asia around 25 mya and in North America around 1.9 mya. When they were alive, they resembled a modern day mongoose like meerkats, Indian grey mongooses, etc, but some earlier species of Fitaweskus were the earliest ancestors of Cetofelis, Lutonsotherium, Homodon, dylanuses, and relatives.

Extinction
It is unknown why Fitaweskus became extinct in the Late Pliocene. It is possible that they died out because of the climate change causing the Ice Age, but as recent evidence shows, climate change likely didn't effect their populations during that time. Newer fossils suggests that it is competition from some newer predators like mustlid-group mammals (black-footed ferrets, weasels, skunks, etc) that drove the Fitaweskus to extinction.

Fitaweskus
 * Domain: Eukarya
 * Kingdom: Animalia
 * Phylum: Chordata
 * Subphylum: Vertebrata
 * Class: Mammalia
 * Order: Carnivora
 * Family: Felidae
 * Superfamily: Herpestidae
 * Genus: Fitaweskus