Eucyon

Eucyon
Temporal range: Late Miocene–Late Pliocene, 10.3–3.6 Ma
Fossil skeleton of Eucyon davisi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: Caninae
Genus: †Eucyon
Tedford and Qiu (1996)[1]
Type species
†Eucyon davisi
(Merriam, 1911) [originally Canis]

Eucyon (Greek: εὖ eu: good, true; κῠ́ων cyon: dog) is an extinct genus of medium omnivorous coyote-like canid that first appeared in the Western United States during the late Middle Miocene 10 million years ago. It was the size of a jackal and weighed around 15kg. It was one of the few North American mammals which invaded Eurasia about 6 million years ago, followed by the genus going extinct 3 million years ago. This genus is proposed to have given rise to genus Canis 6 million years ago.[2]: p56–58 

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference tedford1996 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference wang2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).