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, which was about 5 feet long, had an estimated weight of 200-300 pounds.^[3] Epicyon had a massive head and powerful jaws, giving its skull a lion-like shape rather than that of a wolf.

Epicyon was one of the last of the Borophaginae and shared its North American habitat with other canids:

• Borophagus 23.3 to 3.6 million years ago (mya)
• Epicyon from 20.6 to 7014168202008000000♠5.330 mya
• Carpocyon from 20.4 to 7014123074640000000♠3.9 mya
• Paratomarctus from 16.3 to 7014167255280000000♠5.3 mya
• Aelurodon from 15.97 to 7014168265123200000♠5.332 mya
• Canis lepophagus from 10.3 to 7013568036800000000♠1.8 mya

Canis lepophagus may be the ancestor to the wolf.

Taxonomy

Epicyon was named by Joseph Leidy in 1858 as a subgenus of Canis. It was also mentioned as belonging to Aelurodontina by William Diller Matthew & Stirton in 1930.

Fossil range

Fossil specimens range from Florida to Alberta, Canada to California; from Nebraska, and Kansas to New Mexico and Texas.

Species

• Epicyon aelurodontoides existed for 5.4 mya. It was named by X. Wang and others in 1999. It was found south of the Young Brothers Ranch, Kansas.
• Epicyon haydeni existed for 15.3 mya It is synonymous with Aelurodon aphobus, Osteoborus ricardoensis, Osteoborus validus, Tephrocyon mortifer) 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.
  • Morphology: The largest known specimen weighed an estimated 170 kg (375 lb).^[4]
• Epicyon saevus existed for 11.4 mya. It is synonymous with Aelurodon inflatus and was named by Joseph Leidy in 1858 or 1859. In the late 1880s-early 1900s,pe, 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.
  • Morphology: One specimen weighed an estimated 50.8 kg (112 lb). A second weighed an estimated 44.8 (99 lb).

References

• 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