Rhizocyon

Extinct genus of carnivores

Rhizocyon Temporal range: early Oligocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	†Borophaginae
Genus:	†Rhizocyon Wang, Tedford, & Taylor, 1999
Species:	†R. oregonensis
Binomial name
†Rhizocyon oregonensis (Merriam, 1906)

Range of Rhizocyon based on fossil distribution

Rhizocyon ("root dog") is an early member of the subfamily Borophaginae, an extinct subgroup of canids that were endemic to western North America during the Oligocene epoch, living from ~31—24.5 Ma., existing for approximately 6.5 million years.

Rhizocyon was similar to a contemporary species, Archaeocyon leptodus , from the Great Plains, but it shows a few subtle differences in the structure of the skull and dentition that indicate that Rhizocyon may be close to the ancestry of later borophagines. Only a single species, R. oregonensis, is known and all fossils come from the John Day Formation in Oregon.^{[citation needed ]}

References

[edit ]

Wang, Xiaoming., R.H. Tedford, and B.E. Taylor. 1999. Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae (Carnivora, Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 243:1-391.
Balisi, Mairin and B. Van Valkenburgh. 2020. Iterative evolution of large-bodied hypercarnivory in canids benefits species but not clades. Communications Biology 3(461).

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Extinct Canidae

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia

Canidae

†Prohesperocyon

†Hesperocyoninae

Hesperocyon Mesocyon Cynodesmus Sunkahetanka Philotrox Enhydrocyon Paraenhydrocyon Caedocyon Ectopocynus
Osbornodon	O. brachypus O. fricki O. iamonensis O. renjiei O. sesnoni O. scitulus O. wangi

†Borophaginae

Phlaocyonini

Cynarctoides
Phlaocyon	P. achoros P. annectens P. latidens P. leucosteus P. mariae P. marslandensis P. minor P. multicuspus P. taylori P. yatkolai

Borophagini

Cynarctina

Paracynarctus
Cynarctus

Aelurodontina

Tomarctus
Aelurodon

Borophagina

Paratomarctus Carpocyon Protepicyon Epicyon
Borophagus	B. diversidens B. dudleyi B. hilli B. littoralis B. orc B. parvus B. pugnator B. secundus

Caninae	see below↓

†Leptocyon
†Metalopex

Urocyon	†U. citrinus †U. galushai †U. minicephalus †U. progressus †U. webbi

Vulpini

†Ferrucyon †Prototocyon
Nyctereutes (raccoon dogs)	†N. abdeslami †N. donnezani †N. lockwoodi †N. megamastoides †N. sinensis †N. tingi †N. vinetorum
Vulpes (true foxes)	†V. hassani †V. odessana †V. praeglacialis †V. qiuzhudingi †V. riffautae †V. rooki †V. skinneri †V. stenognathus †V. gigas

Canini (true dogs)

†Canis gezi
†Nurocyon

Cerdocyonina
(zorro)

†Protocyon †Theriodictis
Speothos	†Pleistocene bush dog (S. pacivorus)
†Dusicyon	Falkland Islands wolf (D. australis) D. avus D. cultridens
Lycalopex (South American foxes)	†L. cultridens (?) †L. ensenadensis

Canina (wolf-like canids)	see below↓

Nyctereutes donnezani

Vulpes praeglacialis

Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis)

Canina (wolf-like canids)

Canina

†Eucyon	E. davisi E. debonisi E. ferox E. intrepidus E. khoikhoi E. kuta E. marinae E. minor E. monticinensis E. skinneri E. wokari E. zhoui
Lycaon	†L. magnus †L. sekowei
Dhole (Cuon alpinus)	†C. a. antiquus †C. a. caucasicus †European dhole (C. a. europaeus) †Tien Shan dhole (C. a. hesperius)

Canis

Coyote (C. latrans)	†Pleistocene coyote (C. l. orcutti)
Red wolf (C. rufus)	†Florida black wolf (C. r. floridanus) †Gregory's wolf (C. r. gregoryi)