Limnocyon

Limnocyon
Temporal range: Early-Middle Eocene (Bridgerian to Uintan) 49–40.1 Ma
Skull of Limnocyon verus
Life Restoration of L. verus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Hyaenodonta
Clade: †Limnocyoninae
Genus: †Limnocyon
Marsh, 1872
Type species
†Limnocyon verus
Marsh, 1872
Species
  • †L. cuspidens (Morlo & Gunnell, 2005)
  • †L. potens (Matthew, 1909)
  • †L. verus (Marsh, 1872)
Synonyms
synonyms of genus:
  • Telmatocyon (Marsh, 1899)
synonyms of species:
  • L. potens:
    • Limnocyon douglassi (Peterson, 1919)
    • Limnocyon protens (Kay, 1957)
  • L. verus:
    • Limnocyon riparius (Marsh, 1872)
    • Oxyaenodon wortmani (Van Valen, 1966)
    • Sinopa vera (Matthew, 1899)
    • Sinopa verus (Matthew, 1901)
    • Stypolophus verus
    • Telmatocyon riparius (Marsh, 1899)
    • Triacodon grandis (Marsh, 1872)
    • Viverravus riparius (Marsh, 1872)

Limnocyon ("swamp dog") is an extinct paraphyletic genus of limnocyonine hyaenodont that lived in North America during the Early to Middle Eocene, going extinct at the end of Uintan stage. Fossils of this animal have been found in California, Utah and Wyoming.

Description

Limnocyon was a small hyaenodont, the smaller species was L. versus with adults weighing 7.78 kg (17.2 lb). L. potens reached even larger sizes weighing 15.84 kg (34.9 lb). Like other limnocyonines, Limnocyon had only two molars in the upper and lower dentition.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Michael Morlo; Gregg F. Gunnell (2005). "New Species of Limnocyon (Mammalia, Creodonta) from the Bridgerian (Middle Eocene)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 25 (1): 251–255. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0251:nsolmc]2.0.co;2. S2CID 85666602.
  2. ↑ W. D. Matthew (1909.) "The Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger Basin, middle Eocene." Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 9:289-567
  3. ↑ O. C. Marsh (1872.) "Preliminary description of new Tertiary mammals. Part I." American Journal of Science 4(20):122-128
  4. ↑ J. Alroy (2002.) "Synonymies and reidentifications of North American fossil mammals."
  5. ↑ O. A. Peterson (1919.) "Report Upon the Material Discovered in the Upper Eocene of the Uinta Basin by Earl Douglas in the Years 1908-1909, and by O. A. Peterson in 1912." Annals of Carnegie Museum 12(2):40-168
  6. ↑ L. Van Valen (1966.) "Deltatheridia, a new order of Mammals." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 132(1):1-126
  7. ↑ Gunnell, Gregg F.; Murphey, Paul C.; Stucky, R.K.; Townsend, Kathryn B.; Robinson, Peter; Zonneveld, John-Paul; Bartels, W. S. (2009). "Biostratigraphy and biochronology of the latest Wasatchian, Bridgerian, and Uintan North American Land Mammal "Ages"". Geology, Vertebrate Paleontology, and Biostratigraphy.
  8. ↑ Paleobiology Database: Limnocyon
  9. ↑ Egi, Naoko (2001). "Body mass estimates in extinct mammals from limb bone dimensions: the case of North American hyaenodontids". Palaeontology. 44 (3): 497–528. Bibcode:2001Palgy..44..497E. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00189. S2CID 128832577.