| Vulpins | |
|---|---|
| Clockwise from top: red fox, bat-eared fox, tanuki | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Subfamily: | Caninae |
| Tribe: | Vulpini Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1832 |
| Genera | |
| |
Vulpini is a tribe which represents the fox-like taxon of the subfamily Caninae (the canines), and is sister to the dog-like tribe Canini. It comprises the 15 extant and 21 extinct species found on all continents except Antarctica.
| Image | Genus | Species |
|---|---|---|
| Nyctereutes Temminck, 1838 | ||
| Otocyon S. Müller, 1835 | ||
| Vulpes Garsault, 1764 |
| |
| †Ferrucyon Ruiz-Ramoni et al., 2020 | ||
| †Metalopex S. Müller, 1835 |
| |
| †Prototocyon Pohle, 1928 | ||
The taxonomy of Carnivora in general and Canidae in particular correlates with various diagnostic features of the dentition and basicranium. Regarding Vulpini, Tedford has remarked:
These small canids are distinguished from all other Caninae in possessing a wide paroccipital process that is broadly sutured to the posterior surface of the bulla with a short and laterally turned free tip that barely extends below the body of the process. The presence of a metaconule and postprotocrista on M2 of vulpines represents the culmination of a reversal that began with late Leptocyon species to resume the form of the primitive canine M2.
The cladogram below is based on the phylogeny of Lindblad-Toh (2005) modified to incorporate recent findings on Vulpes.
| Vulpini |
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