Cynarctus
Appearance
Cynarctus Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Cynarctus Skull | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Subfamily: | †Borophaginae |
Tribe: | †Borophagini |
Subtribe: | †Cynarctina |
Genus: | †Cynarctus Matthew, 1902 |
Type species | |
†Cynarctus saxatilis | |
Species | |
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Cynarctus is an extinct genus of the Borophaginae subfamily of canids native to North America. It lived during the Middle to Late Miocene 16.0—10.3 mya, existing for approximately 5.7 million years.[1] Fossils have been uncovered in California, Maryland, western Nebraska, and Texas. It was likely an omnivore, and lacked the bone-cracking adaptations found in some later borophagines.[2]
References
- ^ Paleobiology Database: Cynartus
- ^ Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs, Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Columbia. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3.
- Wang, X., R.H. Tedford, and B.E. Taylor. 1999. Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae (Carnivora, Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 243:1-391.