Amphicynodontidae

Amphicynodontidae
Temporal range: Late Eocene to Early Miocene
38–18 Ma
Artist's restoration of Kolponomos newportensis.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Infraorder: Arctoidea
Family: †Amphicynodontidae
Simpson, 1945
Genera

Amphicynodontidae is a probable clade of extinct arctoids. While some researchers consider this group to be an extinct subfamily of bears, a variety of morphological evidence links amphicynodontines with pinnipeds, as the group were semi-aquatic otter-like mammals. In addition to the support of the pinniped–amphicynodontine clade, other morphological and some molecular analyses support bears being the closest living relatives to pinnipeds. According to McKenna and Bell (1997) Amphicynodontinae are classified as stem-pinnipeds in the superfamily Phocoidea. Fossils of these mammals have been found in Europe, North America and Asia. Amphicynodontines should not be confused with Amphicyonids (bear-dogs), a separate family of Carnivora which is a sister clade to arctoids within the caniforms, but which may be listed as a clade of extinct arctoids in older publications.

Systematics

References

  1. ↑ McLellan, B.; Reiner, D.C. (1992). "A review of bear evolution" (PDF). International Association for Bear Research and Management. 9 (1): 85–96. doi:10.2307/3872687. JSTOR 3872687. S2CID 91124592. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2020.
  2. ↑ Tedford, R. H.; Barnes, L. G.; Ray, C. E. (1994). "The early Miocene littoral ursoid carnivoran Kolponomos: Systematics and mode of life" (PDF). Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 29: 11–32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  3. 1 2 Rybczynski, N.; Dawson, M.R.; Tedford, R.H. (2009). "A semi-aquatic Arctic mammalian carnivore from the Miocene epoch and origin of Pinnipedia". Nature. 458 (7241): 1021–24. Bibcode:2009Natur.458.1021R. doi:10.1038/nature07985. PMID 19396145. S2CID 4371413.
  4. 1 2 3 Berta, A.; Morgan, C.; Boessenecker, R.W. (2018). "The Origin and Evolutionary Biology of Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 46: 203–228. Bibcode:2018AREPS..46..203B. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-082517-010009.
  5. ↑ Hunt, R. M. Jr.; Barnes, L. G. (1994). "Basicranial evidence for ursid affinity of the oldest pinnipeds" (PDF). Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 29: 57–67.
  6. ↑ Lento, G. M.; Hickson, R. E.; Chambers, G. K.; Penny, D. (1995). "Use of spectral analysis to test hypotheses on the origin of pinnipeds". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 12 (1): 28–52. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040189. PMID 7877495.
  7. ↑ Wang, X.; McKenna, M. C.; Dashzeveg, D. (2005). "Amphicticeps and Amphicynodon (Arctoidea, Carnivora) from Hsanda Gol Formation, central Mongolia and phylogeny of basal arctoids with comments on zoogeography". American Museum Novitates (3483): 216. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2005)483[0001:AAAACF]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/5674.
  8. ↑ Higdon, J. W.; Bininda-Emonds, O. R.; Beck, R. M.; Ferguson, S. H. (2007). "Phylogeny and divergence of the pinnipeds (Carnivora: Mammalia) assessed using a multigene dataset". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 7: 216. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-216. PMC 2245807. PMID 17996107.
  9. ↑ McKenna, M.C.; Bell, S. (1997). Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York.
  10. ↑ Amphicynodontinae in the Paleobiology Database