摘要The carnivoran family Hyaenidae has an evolutionary history stretching ～20 Ma, with high generic diversity in the fossil record and a paucity of living species. Their ecological diversity peaked during the late Miocene, when multiple sympatric species made up a major component of the camivoran guild in many fossil faunas. Here one group of late Miocene hyaenids and their sister family Percrocutidae, from the Linxia Basin of northwestern China, was studied using geometric morphometrics analysis of cranial shape. The morphology of Ictitherium and Hyaenictitherium was shown to be intermediate between those of living spotted hyena Croatia and canids Cards and Lycaon. The larger Dinocrocuta and Adcrocuta overlap extensively in morphology with extant Crocuta. Juvenile Dinocrocuta and Croatia are more similar to each other in cranial morphology than either is to adult individuals of their species. Furthermore , adult Hyaeniclitherium and Ictitherium fall within the range of variation of extant juvenile Crocuta. These findings indicate that Crocuta and Dinocrocuta not only converge on robust adult cranial morphology, but may also share similar ontogenetic trajectories; the prolonged period of ontogeny in Crocuta required for developing the robust morphology may also be true for Dinocrocuta. The ictitherelike morphology of juvenile Crocuta suggests that adult cranial shape of the extant hyaenid is obtained via continued allometric growth from, and beyond, the ictithere bauplan.