Daphoenus

Daphoenus is an extinct genus of bear dogs. Daphoenus inhabited North America from the Middle Eocene to the Middle Miocene, 37.2—16.0 Mya, existing for approximately 21 million years.[1]

Daphoenus
Temporal range: 42–16.3 Ma Middle Eocene-Middle Miocene
D. vetus skeleton, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: †Amphicyonidae
Subfamily: †Daphoeninae
Genus: †Daphoenus
Leidy, 1853
Type species
†Daphoenus vetus
Species
  • D. hartshorianus
  • D. lambei
  • D. ruber
  • D. socialis
  • D. transversus
  • D. vetus
Synonyms
  • Pericyon
  • Proamphicyon Hatcher, 1902

Species
D. vetus skull, Paleontology Museum of Zurich

D. hartshornianus fossils found in Oligocene Orellan rocks in the Lower Nodular Zone, Pennington County, South Dakota are dated at ~33.4 Ma. Other sites include the Prairie Dog Creek Site and Warbonnet Creek Site, Sioux County, Nebraska ~33.4 Ma., Bartlett High Site, Dawes County, Nebraska ~33.2 Ma., Babby Butte Site, Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota ~33.4 Ma—33.2 Ma.

D. lambei fossils found in Eocene Duchesnean rocks at the Big Red Horizon Site, Presidio County, Texas are dated at ~38.4—38.3 Ma. Other sites include the Badwater Locality 20 Site and Wood Locality Site, Natrona County, Wyoming ~41.8 Ma., Lac Pelletier Lower Fauna Site, Saskatchewan ~42.3 Ma.

D. ruber fossils were found in Oligocene Arikareean rocks in the Tecuya Canyon Formation of Kern County, California with other mammal species and are dated at ~29.8—24.8 Ma.

D. socialis fossils found in Oligocene Hemingfordian rocks at the Haystack Member, Wheeler County, Oregon are dated at ~24.3 Ma. and Kimberly Member, Grant County, Oregon with several other species of mammal such as Hesperocyon, Hypertragulus, and Leptomeryx dating ~25.4—25.3 Ma.

Description
Restoration of D. vetus

Daphoenus, like the rest of its family, was called a "bear dog" because it had characteristics of both bears and dogs. These animals were about the size of the present day coyote. Daphoenus vetus was the largest species. The male skulls could reach up to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length. Daphoenus had short legs, and could only make quick sprints; it was not capable of running long distances. It is thought that these animals ambushed their prey, and did some scavenging. Fossil footprints suggested that, like present-day bears, these animals walked in a flat-footed way. Daphoenus dug burrows for their offspring to stay in and hide from their prey.[2]

Distribution
D. vetus skeleton, Paleontology Museum of Zurich

Daphoenus fossils found in late Oligocene rocks in the Great Plains are dated at ~28 Ma. Daphoenus survived to 27 Ma in the Pacific Northwest in the John Day beds of Oregon.[3] Other sites include: Alachua County, Florida (Whitneyan) estimated at 31.1—24.3 Ma., Tecuya Canyon, California (Arikareean age) 30.8—20.6 Ma., Haystack Member Formation, Wheeler County, Oregon (Hemingfordian) 20.6—16.3 Ma., Lac Pelletier, Alberta, Canada (Duchesnean) ~42 Ma.

gollark: They don't seem to have many WD disks in that.
gollark: Hmm. Perhaps seagate somewhat bad then.
gollark: ```ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 2 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 179 171 021 Pre-fail Always - 2033 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 168316 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 079 079 000 Old_age Always - 15354 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2564192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 320193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 336830194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 126 080 000 Old_age Always - 21196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 8931```Wow, this disk is in a great state.
gollark: I don't see why I would want dead ones.
gollark: Certainly not to the extent that you'd expect piles of dead ones.

References
  1. Daphoenus at fossilworks
  2. Robbins, Neal. "Daphoenus- A Mammal of the Oligocene" Infohub.com. 4thMar.2007.Web. 12 Nov. 2009
  3. Hunt, Robert M., Jr. (2004). "Global Climate and the Evolution of Large Mammalian Carnivores during the Later Cenozoic in North America" (PDF). Cenozoic Carnivores and Global Climate.
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