Prohesperocyon

Prohesperocyon[1]
Temporal range: Late Eocene, 36.6–36.5 Ma
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: †Prohesperocyon
Wang, 1994
Species:
†P. wilsoni
Binomial name
†Prohesperocyon wilsoni
Gustafson, 1986

Prohesperocyon ("before Hesperocyon") is an extinct genus of canid,[2] endemic to North America appearing during the Late Eocene around 36.6 mya (AEO).[3]

Fossil distribution

Prohesperocyon wilsoni was unearthed at the Airstrip (TMM 40504) site, Presidio County, Texas dating between 36.6 and 36.5 million years ago.[4] This fossil species bears a combination of features that definitively mark it as a Canidae, including teeth that include the loss of the upper third molar (a general trend in canids toward a more shearing bite), and the characteristically enlarged bony bulla (the rounded covering over the middle ear). Based on what we know about its descendants, Prohesperocyon likely had slightly more elongated limbs than its predecessors, along with toes that were parallel and closely touching, rather than splayed, as in bears.[5]

References

  1. ^ Wang, Xiaoming (1994). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 221: 1–207. hdl:2246/829.
  2. ^ Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-231-13529-0.
  3. ^ Paleobiology Database Taxa 41236, Prohesperocyon
  4. ^ Paleobiology Database Collection 16888, revised on 2002-06-03, John Alroy.
  5. ^ Wang, Xiaoming; Richard H. Tedford (2008). "How Dogs Came to Run the World". Natural History Magazine. July/August. Retrieved 2020-01-23.


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