Eoarctos Temporal range: Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, ~
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | †Subparictidae |
Genus: | †Eoarctos Wang et al., 2023 |
Type species | |
†Eoarctos vorax Wang et al., 2023
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Eoarctos is an extinct genus of arctoid carnivorans, known from the latest Eocene to early Oligocene of North Dakota and Nebraska. It is known from several remains, the most notable of which is the almost perfectly preserved skeleton of a large male. It was comparable in build and size to a fisher or small raccoon, with an estimated body mass of 4.3 kg, and possessed a variety of features that indicate a mix of terrestrial and scansorial locomotion. Its most notable feature is its unique dentition, with its massive premolars and hypocarnivorous molars, as well as its robust mandible, indicating that it consumed hard-shelled prey, possibly making it the oldest molluscivorous carnivoran known.[1]