Amphicyon

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Amphicyon
Fossil range: Mid Oligocene to Early Miocene

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Amphicyonidae
Subfamily:	Amphicyoninae
Genus:	Amphicyon

Species

A. intermedius (type)
A. frendens
A. frendes
A. galushai
A. giganteus
A. ingens
A. ingens
A. laugnacensis
A. longiramus
A. major
A. pontoni
A. reinheimeri
A. riggsi
A. giganteus

Amphicyon is an extinct genus of large carnivorous mammals known from the middle Oligocene and early Miocene, similar in morphology to both bears and dogs. The name translates roughly as "ambiguous dog". This was the typical Bear-Dog (Amphicyonids). With its robust build and maximum length of 2 m (6 ft 8 in), the largest species looked more like a bear than a dog. It had a large heavy tail, thick neck, robust limbs and teeth like a wolf. It was probably an omnivore with a lifestyle comparable to that of the brown bear.

The earliest occurrences of Amphicyon in North America are from the early to mid-Miocene, found in the Runningwater Formation in Sioux County, Nebraska, and from the lower part of the Troublesome Formation, Colorado (A. galushai, A. frendens, and A. ingens). Although other large amphicyonids from the Miocene of North America have been placed in Amphicyon, many of these carnivores are now placed in other amphicyonid genera. The Amphicyon lineage in the New World is restricted to the above three species (18.8–14.2 Ma). Particularly rich samples of the large North American species of Amphicyon have been found in the Sheep Creek Formation (A. frendens) and Olcott Formation (A. ingens) of central Sioux County, northwest Nebraska (Hunt, 2004).

[edit] References

Hunt, Robert M, Jr. (2004) "Intercontinental Migration of Large Mammalian Carnivores: Earliest Occurrence of the Old World Beardog Amphicyon (Carnivora, Amphicyonidae) in North America." in Cenozoic Carnivores and Global Climate by Robert M. Hunt, Jr.[1]