Ictiocyon

Ictiocyon
Temporal range: Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Superfamily: Arctoidea
Family: Amphicyonidae
Genus: Ictiocyon
Crusafont Pairó (1955)

Ictiocyon is an extinct genus of large, mostly carnivorous bone-crushing mammals known as bear dogs, of the family Amphicyonidae endemic to Asia during the Miocene living from 23.03—15.97 Ma and existed for approximately 7.06 million years. [1]

Taxonomy

Ictiocyon was named by Crusafont Pairó et al. (1955). It was assigned to Amphicyonidae by Wang et al. (2005).[2]

Morphology

A single specimen was examined by Legendre and Roth for body mass and was estimated to weigh 1.42 kg (3.1 lb).[3]

References

  1. ^ Paleobiology Database: Ictiocyon Basic info.
  2. ^ X. Wang, Z. Qiu, and B. Wang. 2005. Hyaenodonts and carnivorans from the early Oligocene to early Miocene of the Xianshuihe Formation, Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province, China. Paleontologica Electronica 8(1):1-14
  3. ^ S. Legendre and C. Roth. 1988. Correlation of carnassial tooth size and body weight in recent carnivores (Mammalia). Historical Biology 1(1):85-98