Parictis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Parictis
Fossil range: Eocene –Miocene

Fossil

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Subfamily:	Amphicynodontinae
Genus:	Parictis
Species:	P. bathygenus, White 1947 P. dakotensis (37 Ma), Clark 1936 P. gilpini (35 Ma), Clark/Guensburg 1972 P. major, Clark and Guensburg 1972 P. montanus (36 Ma), Clark/Guensburg 1972 P. parvus (38 Ma), Clark/Beerbower, 1967 P. personi (33 Ma), Chaffee 1954^[1] P. primaevus, Scott 1893

Parictis is the earliest genus of bear known. It was a very small and graceful ursid with a skull only 7 cm long. Parictis first appeared in North America in the Late Eocene (ca. 38 million years ago), but it did not arrive in Eurasia and Africa until the Miocene.^[2] There is some suggestion that a limited emigration from Asia may have produced Parictis in North America due to the major sea level lowstand at ca. 37 Ma, however no Parictis fossils have yet to be found in East Asia.

[edit] References

^ Chafee, R. F. (1954). "Campylocynodon personi, a new Oligocene carnivore from the Beaver Divide, Wyoming". Journal of Paleontolgy 28 (1): 43–46.
^ Kemp, T.S. (2005). The Origin and Evolution of Mammals. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198507607.