Hesperocyon

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Hesperocyon Fossil range: Late Eocene to Early Oligocene
Skeleton of Hesperocyon gregarius
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Subfamily: †Hesperocyoninae Genus: †Hesperocyon Scott, 1890
Type species
†Canis gregarius
Species
†H. coloradensis †H. gregarius

Hesperocyon is an extinct genus of canids (family Canidae, subfamily Hesperocyoninae) and the most early of the canids to evolve after the Caniformia-Feliformia split some 42 million year ago. Fossil evidence dates Hesperocyon gregarius to be at leat 37 million years old, but the oldest Hesperocyon has been dated at 39.74 mya from the Duchesnean North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA).^[1]

This early, 80 cm (2 ft 8 in) long canine looked more like a civet or a small raccoon than a canine. Its body and tail were long and flexible, while its limbs were weak and short. Still, the build of its ossicles and distribution of its teeth showed it was a canid. Although it was definitely a carnivore, it may also have been an omnivore - unlike the hypercarnivore Borophaginae that later split from this canid lineage.

The Canidae subfamily Hesperocyonidae probably arose out of Hesperocyon to become the first of the three great dogs groups: Hesperocyoninae (~40-15 Ma), Borophaginae (~36-2 Ma), and the Caninae lineage that led to present-day Canidae, inclusive of modern-day wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals and dogs (Canis familiaris). At least twenty eight known species of Hesperocyoninae evolved out of Hesperocyon, including Ectopocynus (32-19 mya), Osbornodon (32-18 mya), Paraenhydrocyon (20-25 mya), and Mesocyon-Enhydrocyon (31-15 mya) (Wang, 1994, Wang et al., 1999).

[edit] References

• Wang, X. 1994. Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora, Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 221:1-207.
• Wang, X., R. H. Tedford, and B. E. Taylor. 1999. Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae (Carnivora: Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 243:1-391.

v • d • e Extinct members of the family Canidae Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Chordata · Class: Mammalia · Order: Carnivora · Suborder: Caniformia †Hesperocyoninae †Prohesperocyon · †Hesperocyon · †Mesocyon · †Cynodesmus · †Sunkahetanka · †Philotrox · †Enhydrocyon · †Paraenhydrocyon · †Osbornodon · †Caedocyon · †Ectopocynus †Borophaginae †Archaeocyon · †Oxetocyon · †Otarocyon · †Rhizocyon · †Cynarctoides · †Phlaocyon · †Cormocyon · †Desmocyon · †Metatomarctus · †Euoplocyon · †Psalidocyon · †Microtomarctus · †Protomarctus · †Tephrocyon · †Paracynarctus · †Cynarctus · †Tomarctus · †Aelurodon · †Paratomarctus · †Carpocyon · †Protepicyon · †Epicyon · †Borophagus Caninae (extinct genera) †Leptocyon · †Prototocyon · †Eucyon · †Protocyon · †Theriodictis · †Dusicyon · †Nurocyon · †Xenocyon · †Cynotherium Category