Protocyon

Protocyon is an extinct genus of small canid endemic to South and North America during the Late Pleistocene living from 0.781 Ma to 12,000 years ago and existed for approximately 0.769 million years.[1]

Protocyon
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene (Lujanian)
~0.781–0.012 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: Caninae
Tribe: Canini
Genus: †Protocyon
Giebel 1855
Species
Synonyms

Description

Protocyon was a hypercarnivore, suggested by its dental adaptations. It hunted the medium-sized grazers and browers, but not the local megafauna although the young could have been preyed upon too. The find of a molar tooth found in Santa Vitória do Palmar in Brazil suggests a weight of between 25 and 37 kilograms (55 and 82 lb) for this particular specimen.[2]

Taxonomy

Protocyon was named by Giebel in 1855 and assigned to Canidae by Carroll in 1988.[3]

Fossil distribution

Fossils of Protocyon have been found in the Ñuapua and Tarija Formations of Bolivia, the Vorohue Formation of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Santa Elena Peninsula of Ecuador, Sopas Formation of Uruguay, Mene de Inciarte Tar Seep of Venezuela and various sites in Brazil, among others the Jandaíra Formation.[1]

Canid fossil material from the Hoyo Negro pit in the Sac Actun cave system (Mexico), initially identified as remains of a coyote, was reinterpreted as remains of Protocyon troglodytes by Schubert et al. (2019), indicating that this taxon was also present in the southern part of North America.[4]

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References
  1. Protocyon at Fossilworks.org
  2. http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/34821853/PROTOCYON2005.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1485459654&Signature=zCxCPy8ZhkMhbEN%2FMwcS16wacho%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DProtocyon_troglodytes_Lund_Mammalia_Carn.pdf%5B%5D
  3. R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company
  4. Schubert, B. W.; Chatters, J. C.; Arroyo-Cabrales, J.; Samuels, J. X.; Soibelzon, L. H.; Prevosti, F. J.; Widga, C.; Nava, A.; Rissolo, D.; Erreguerena, P. L. (2019). "Yucatán carnivorans shed light on the Great American Biotic Interchange". Biology Letters. 15 (5): 20190148. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0148. PMC 6548739. PMID 31039726. 20190148.
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