Enhydrocyon

Enhydrocyon is an extinct genus of bone crushing canid which inhabited North America during the Oligocene and Early Miocene, 30.8—20.4 Ma, existing for approximately 11 million years . [1]

Enhydrocyon Temporal range: Oligocene–Early Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	†Hesperocyoninae
Genus:	†Enhydrocyon Cope, 1879
Type species
†Enhydrocyon stenocephalus
Species
See text
Range of Enhydrocyon fossil evidence

Enhydrocyon's dentition suggests this animal was a hypercarnivore or mesocarnivore.[2] Species of Enhydrocyon were relatively large, powerfully built carnivores with a short snout and deep jaws reminiscent of a jaguar.[3] These features give the skull a shape resembling that of the extant sea otter (Enhydra), prompting the scientific name.[4] With an estimated weight of about 10 kilograms (22 lb), this was the earliest genus of canid adapted to be specialized predators.[4]

Species

• †Enhydrocyon basilatus Cope 1879
• †E. crassidens Matthew 1907
• †E. pahinsintewakpa Macdonald 1963
• †E. sectorius Cope 1883
• †E. stenocephalus Cope 1879

References

1. http://fossilworks.org/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=41211 Enhydrocyon at fossilworks
2. R. M. Nowak. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press (edited volume) II
3. David Macdonald. The Velvet Claw: A Natural History of the Carnivores. BBC Books: London; 1992. p83.
4. Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs, Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Columbia. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3.

• Wang, X. (1994). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora, Canidae)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 221: 1–207. hdl:2246/829.