Epicyon

Epicyon ("more than a dog") is a large, extinct, canid genus of the subfamily Borophaginae ("bone-crushing dogs"), native to North America. Epicyon existed for about 15 million years from the Hemingfordian age of the Early Miocene, to the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene.[2]

Epicyon
Temporal range:
Mounted E. haydeni skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: †Borophaginae
Tribe: †Borophagini
Subtribe: †Borophagina
Genus: †Epicyon
Leidy, 1858
Type species
†Epicyon haydeni
Leidy, 1858
Species[1]
  • †E. aelurodontoides
  • †E. haydeni
  • †E. saevus

Description

Epicyon had a massive head and powerful jaws that were well adapted for bone-crushing, with enlarged fourth premolars like some hyenas, giving its skull a lion-like shape rather than having a skull similar in shape to that of a wolf; the adaptation would have allowed Epicyon to scavenge as well as hunt, giving it access to the nutritious marrow other contemporary carnivores couldn't access.[3]

Epicyon was one of the last of the borophagines, and shared its North American habitat with several other canids, including:

Species

Fossil specimens range from Florida to California; Nebraska and Kansas to Texas and New Mexico in the United States north to Alberta, Canada.

Epicyon haydeni, the type species, existed from 20.6-5.3 million years ago. It is synonymous with Aelurodon aphobus, Osteoborus ricardoensis, Osteoborus validus, and Tephrocyon mortifer, and was named by Joseph Leidy as a subgenus. It was recombined as Aelurodon haydeni by Scott and Osborn in 1890. Further study by Matthew in 1899, Matthew and Gidley in 1904, VanderHoof and Gregory in 1940, McGrew in 1944, Bennett in 1979, (1979) and Becker (1980). It again was recombined as Epicyon haydeni by Baskin in 1980, Voorhies in 1990, (1990), Baskin (1998), Wang et al. in 1999. Known as the largest species of all canids, it is estimated to have had a body length of 2.4 m (7.9 ft), a shoulder height of 90 cm (35 in) and a body mass of approximately 100–125 kg (220–276 lb),[4][3][5] with the largest known specimen weighing up to 170 kg (370 lb).[6]

Epicyon saevus existed from 16.3-4.9 million years ago. It is synonymous with Aelurodon inflatus and was named by Joseph Leidy in 1858 or 1859. In the late 1880s-early 1900s, Scott, Matthew, Cope and Matthew, Troxell recombined the animal as Aelurodon saevus. It was recombined as Epicyon saevus by Baskin in 1980, Munthe in 1989, Voorhies in 1990, and Wang et al. 1999. Its estimated shoulder height is up to 56 cm (22 in) and body mass is up to 66.5 kg (147 lb).[3][5]

Epicyon aelurodontoides existed from 10.3-4.9 million years ago. It was named by X. Wang and others in 1999. It was found south of the Young Brothers Ranch, Kansas.[1]

Taxonomy

Epicyon was first named by Joseph Leidy in 1858 as a subgenus of Canis. It was also mentioned as belonging to the Aelurodontina by Matthew and Stirton in 1930. Later studies indicates that it was not a species of Canis, but a borophagine.

Paleoecology

In North America, in places such as Coffee Ranch in Texas, Epicyon shared territory with the bear Agriotherium and the feliform Barbourofelis, machairodont cat Amphimachairodus coloradensis, and fellow canid Borophagus. All of these animals were potential competitors that would have occasionally conflicted with Epicyon for food and territory. Prey for Epicyon included herbivores such as the camel Aepycamelus, the pronghorn Cosoryx, horses such as Neohipparion and Nannippus, the peccary Prosthennops, and the rhinoceroses such as Teleoceras, all of which could provide a suitable meal through hunting or scavenging.[7][8]

References
  1. Wang, Xiaoming; Richard Tedford; Beryl Taylor (1999-11-17). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 243. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-20. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
  2. PaleoBiology Database: Epicyon
  3. Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives & Evolutionary History.
  4. Díaz-Sibaja, R. (2010). "Titanes Vol. 1 Mamíferos." Fósil® Revista de Paleontología®. ISSN 0717-9235
  5. Andersson, Ki (2005). "Were there pack-hunting canids in the Tertiary, and how can we know?". Paleobiology. 41 (4): 333–347. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2005)031<0056:WTPCIT>2.0.CO;2.
  6. Sorkin, Boris (2008). "A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators". Lethaia. 41 (4): 333–347. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x.
  7. Antón, Mauricio (2013). Sabertooth. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana Press. p. 39. ISBN 9780253010421.
  8. Turner, Alan (1997). The Big Cats and their fossil relatives. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-231-10228-5.
  • Alan Turner, "National Geographic: Prehistoric Mammals" (Washington, D.C.: Firecrest Books Ltd., 2004), pp. 112–114. ISBN 0-7922-7134-3

General references
  • 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


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.