Miacis is an extinct genus of mammals that appeared in the late Paleocene (ca. 60-55 million years ago) and are mammals of the family Miacidae, superfamily Miacoidea. They are representative of the group of early carnivores that were the ancestors of the modern Order Carnivora, although only the species Miacis cognitus is a true carnivoran.[vague] Thus, Miacis may be considered the genus of carnivorous mammals that gave rise to all modern Carnivora. Miacis was five-clawed, about the size of a weasel (~30 cm), and lived on the North American and European continents. They retained some of the primitive characteristics that were present in the Creodonts, the sister order of Carnivora, such as low skulls, long slender bodies, long tails, and short legs. It retained the same number of teeth, 44