Prototocyon
| Prototocyon Temporal range: Late Pliocene - Early Pleistocene
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | †Prototocyon Pohle, 1928 |
| Type species | |
| †Prototocyon curvipalatus Bose, 1880
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| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Prototocyon or Sivacyon is an extinct genus of small omnivorous canid living during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene.[1]
Taxonomy
Prototocyon was named by Pohle (1928) and was assigned to Canidae by Carroll (1988).[2] Old literature relates it to Vulpes bengalensis, but not more modern literature (e.g. McKenna and Bell.[3][4]) Tedford et al. 2009 suggest that Prototocyon and Otocyon form a clade.
Description
Prototocyon was a small canine similar to the bat-eared fox in overall morphology and likely in habits as well. It differed from the modern bat-eared fox mainly in its more primitive dentition.[5]
Fossil distribution
Fossil remains of P. curvipalatus were recovered from the early Pleistocene Upper Siwaliks horizon of the Siwalik Hills, India (Colbert 1935; Pilgrim 1932).
Fossils of P recki have been found by the Olduvai gorge area in Tanzania.[5]
References
- ^ Dogs: their fossil relatives and evolutionary history, Xiaoming Wang, Richard H. Tedford, Mauricio Antón
- ^ R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company
- ^ McKenna, M. C., and S. K. Bell. 1997. Classification of mammals above the species level. Columbia University Press, New York.
- ^ Mammalian Species No. 795, pp. 1–5, 3 figs. Vulpes bengalensis. By Matthew E. Gompper and Abi Tamim Vanak, Archived 2010-06-21 at the Wayback Machine Published 9 August 2006 by the American Society of Mammalogists
- ^ a b Werdelin, Lars; Sanders, William Joseph (2010). Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. p. 612. ISBN 9780520257214.