Dissacus
| Dissacus Temporal range: Early Paleocene–Early Eocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Mesonychia |
| Family: | †Mesonychidae |
| Genus: | †Dissacus Cope, 1881[1] |
| Type species | |
| †Dissacus navajovius | |
| Species | |
| |
Dissacus is an extinct carnivorous jackal to coyote-sized mammal of the family Mesonychidae, endemic to Asia and North America during the Paleocene through Eocene epochs 66—50.3 mya, existing for approximately 15.7 million years.
The bear-sized Ankalagon is closely related to Dissacus, being regarded as a sister or daughter genus.
Dissacus had a Holarctic distribution but Dissacus europaeus was the only mesonychid in present-day Europe. The fossil record of this species is fragmentary; remains in Cernay, France, include a mandible, a complete radius, and fragments of a humerus. A morphological study of these bones suggests this animal was digitigrade and more cursorial than is usually assumed for the genus. [2]
Species
- Genus Dissacus
- Dissacus argenteus
- Dissacus europaeus
- Dissacus indigenus
- Dissacus magushanensis
- Dissacus navajovius
- Dissacus praenuntius
- Dissacus rotundus
- Dissacus serior
- Dissacus serratus
- Dissacus willwoodensis
- Dissacus zanabazari
- Dissacus zengi
References
- ↑ PaleoBiology Database: Dissacus, basic info
- ↑ Agusti, Jordi; Anton, Mauricio (2002). Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. Columbia University Press. pp. 13, 14. ISBN 0-231-11640-3.