Temnocyon is an extinct genus of amphicyonids endemic to North America. It lived from the Oligocene to Early Miocene approximately 30.8—20.4 mya, existing for about 11 million years.[1]
| Temnocyon Temporal range: Early Oligocene to Early Miocene
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| Skull of Temnocyon ferox | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | †Amphicyonidae |
| Subfamily: | †Temnocyoninae |
| Genus: | †Temnocyon Cope, 1878 |
| Species | |
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| Range of Temnocyonines based on fossil record | |
The first fossils are recorded in North America at Logan Butte in the John Day beds of Oregon, in the Sharps Formation of the Wounded Knee area, South Dakota, and in the Gering Formation at Wildcat Ridge, Nebraska. These early temnocyonines attained the size of coyotes or small wolves (15–30 kg) and are identified by a uniquely specialized dentition. The last documented occurrences of temnocyonines are found in sediments in northwest Nebraska and southeastern Wyoming.[2]
References
edit- ^ Temnocyon at fossilworks
- ^ Hunt, Robert M Jr. (2004) "Global Climate and the Evolution of Large Mammalian Carnivores during the Later Cenozoic in North America" in Cenozoic Carnivores and Global Climate by Robert M. Hunt Jr.[1] Archived July 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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