Mesocyon

Mesocyon
Temporal range: Early Oligocene–Early Miocene
Skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: †Hesperocyoninae
Genus: †Mesocyon
Scott, 1890
Type species
†Temnocyon coryphaeus
Species
  • †M. brachyops Merriam 1906
  • †M. coryphaeus Cope 1879
  • †M. temnodon Wortman & Matthew 1899

Mesocyon ("middle dog") is an extinct genus of the Hesperocyoninae subfamily of early canids native to North America. It lived from the Oligocene to Early Miocene, 30.3—20.3 Ma, existing for approximately 10 million years.[1] Fossils are known from Oregon, southern California and the northern Great Plains. It was roughly coyote-sized, and the first known canid to have a primarily meat-based diet.[2]

Restoration of Mesocyon (right) and other animals from the Turtle Cove Formation
  1. ^ Mesocyon at fossilworks
  2. ^ Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs, Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Columbia. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3.