Enhydrocyon

Enhydrocyon is an extinct genus of bone crushing canid which inhabited North America during the Oligocene and Early Miocene, 30.8—20.4 Ma, existing for approximately 11 million years. [1]

Enhydrocyon
Temporal range: Oligocene–Early Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: †Hesperocyoninae
Genus: †Enhydrocyon
Cope, 1879
Type species
†Enhydrocyon stenocephalus
Species

See text

Range of Enhydrocyon fossil evidence

Enhydrocyon's dentition suggests this animal was a hypercarnivore or mesocarnivore.[2] Species of Enhydrocyon were relatively large, powerfully built carnivores with a short snout and deep jaws reminiscent of a jaguar.[3] These features give the skull a shape resembling that of the extant sea otter (Enhydra), prompting the scientific name.[4] With an estimated weight of about 10 kilograms (22 lb), this was the earliest genus of canid adapted to be specialized predators.[4]

Species
  • †Enhydrocyon basilatus Cope 1879
  • †E. crassidens Matthew 1907
  • †E. pahinsintewakpa Macdonald 1963
  • †E. sectorius Cope 1883
  • †E. stenocephalus Cope 1879
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References
  1. http://fossilworks.org/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=41211 Enhydrocyon at fossilworks
  2. R. M. Nowak. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press (edited volume) II
  3. David Macdonald. The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores. BBC Books: London; 1992. p83.
  4. Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs, Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Columbia. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3.
  • Wang, X. (1994). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora, Canidae)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 221: 1–207. hdl:2246/829.


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