Cephalogale

Cephalogale
Temporal range: late Oligocene–Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Superfamily: Arctoidea
Family: Hemicyonidae / Ursidae
Subfamily: † Hemicyoninae
Genus: Cephalogale
Jourdan, 1862
Species: C. geoffroyi
Binomial name
Cephalogale geoffroyi
Filhol, 1879

Cephalogale is an extinct genus of bear-like hemicyonid carnivores of the late Oligocene through Miocene epochs, endemic to North America and Europe living from around 33.9—20 Mya, existing for about 33.9-20 million years.

Before it was reconsidered to be close to the ancestry of hemicyonids, Cephalogale was once considered to be an ancestor of all bears.[1]

Taxonomy

Cephalogale was named by Henri Filhol in 1879. Its type is Cephalogale geoffroyi. It was assigned to Ursidae by Carroll (1988); to Hemicyoninae by Hunt (1998); and to Ursoidea by Wang et al. (2005).[2][3]

Fossil distribution

References

  1. McLellan B. & Reiner D. C. (1994). "A review of bear evolution". Int. Conf. Bear Res. and Manage. 9(1): 85-89. PDF
  2. R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698
  3. X. Wang, M. C. McKenna, and D. Dashzeveg. 2005. Amphicticeps and Amphicynodon (Arctoidea, Carnivora) from Hsanda Gol Formation, Central Mongolia and phylogeny of basal arctoids with comments on zoogeography. American Museum Novitates 3483:1-57