Hesperocyoninae

Hesperocyoninae Temporal range: Late Eocene–Middle Miocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skull of Mesocyon coryphaeus
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	†Hesperocyoninae
Genera
†Cynodesmus †Caedocyon †Ectopocynus †Enhydrocyon †Hesperocyon †Mesocyon †Osbornodon †Paraenhydrocyon †Philotrox †Sunkahetanka

Phylogeny of Hesperocyoninae related to Borophaginae and Canines by R.L. Tedford, 1977

Fluctuation of species within Canidae over 40 million years

Hesperocyoninae is a subfamily of extinct canids.

Taxonomic history

Hesperocyoninae was named by Martin (1989). The members of this subfamily were reassigned to the family Canidae (with no subfamily) by Xiaoming Wang in 1999.

Hesperocyoninae are basal canids that gave rise to the other canid groups, including the Borophaginae and Caninae according to Wang and Tedford.

This disused subfamily were endemic to North America living from the Duchesnean stage of the Late Eocene through the early Barstovian stage of the Miocene lasting around 20 million years. It comprises a total of 10 recognized genera and 26 recognized species; among these, 4 genera and 8 species are new. Four major lineages can be defined based on shared characteristics:

• Mesocyon-Enhydrocyon clade
• Osbornodon clade
• Paraenhydrocyon
• Ectopocynus clade

The Caedocyon probably forms a distinct clade of its own.

Hesperocyon is possibly ancestral to many of the lineages and lacks the shared derived characters which would included it within any of the aforementioned clades. There is evidence that the Paraenhydrocyon clade may be directly descendant from Hesperocyon H. gregarius. According to Xiaoming Wang, Hesperocyon H. coloradensis provides an important link between H. gregarius and the Mesocyon-Enhydrocyon clade.

Hesperocyoninae species per unit of time

References

• Wang, X. 1994. Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora, Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 221:1-207.

Additional Reading

• Xiaoming Wang, Richard H. Tedford, Mauricio Antón, Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History, New York : Columbia University Press, 2008; ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3