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Amphicyonidae

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This article is about the extinct family of mammals. For the breeds of domestic dog, see Karelian Bear Dog and Tahltan Bear Dog. For dog bears, see Hemicyoninae.

Amphicyonids
Temporal range: Middle Eocene – Late Miocene
Skeleton of Amphicyon
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Superfamily: †Amphicyonoidea
Family: †Amphicyonidae
Haeckel, 1866
Subfamilies

†Amphicyoninae
†Daphoeninae
†Haplocyoninae
†Temnocyoninae
†Thaumastocyoninae

Amphicyonidae is an extinct family of terrestrial carnivorans belonging to the suborder Caniformia. They first appeared in North America in the middle Eocene (around 45 mya), spread to Europe by the late Eocene (35 mya), and further spread to Asia and Africa by the early Miocene (23 mya). They had largely disappeared worldwide by the late Miocene (5 mya), with the latest recorded species at the end of the Miocene in Africa. They were among the first carnivorans to evolve large body size. Amphicyonids are colloquially referred to as "bear-dogs".[1]

Taxonomy

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Restoration of Amphicyon ingens

The family was erected by Haeckel in 1866 (also attributed to Trouessart 1885). Their exact position has long been disputed. Some early paleontologists defined them as members of the family Canidae, but the modern consensus is that they form their own family. Some researchers have defined it as the sister clade to ursids (bears), based on morphological analysis of the ear region.[2][1] However, cladistic analysis and reclassification of several species of early carnivore as amphicyonids has strongly suggested that they may be basal caniforms, from lineages older than the origin of both bears and dogs.[3][4][5]

Amphicyonids should not be confused with the similar looking (and similarly nicknamed) "dog-bears", a more derived group of caniforms that is sometimes classified as a family (Hemicyonidae), but is more often considered a primitive subfamily of ursids (Hemicyoninae).

Description

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Amphicyonids ranged in size from as small as 5 kg (11 lb) and as large as 100 to 773 kg (220 to 1,704 lb)[6] and evolved from wolf-like to bear-like body forms.[7]

Skull

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Amphicyonid skulls tended to have a shorter snout than the portion of the skull behind the cranium. In some large members of the family, such as Amphicyon, the back of the skull develops a sharp sagittal crest which defines attachment points for large jaw muscles.[8][9]

Amphicyonids had a relatively rudimentary form of auditory bulla, a bony sheath which encases the middle ear cavity. The bulla is small, mostly formed by the crescent-shaped ectotympanic bone below the middle ear. The entotympanics only make a minor contribution whenever they are ossified, which only becomes commonplace in Miocene amphicyonids. In these regards, amphicyonids are similar to bears, otters, walruses, eared seals, and the red panda.[10][8]

Teeth

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Like most carnivorans, amphicyonid teeth were adapted for carnivory, with large canines and shearing carnassials at the back of the jaw. Amphicyonids were typically mesocarnivorous (majority meat-eating, like dogs) or hypercarnivorous (entirely meat-eating, like cats), and some were adapted for tough abrasive food. Only two small Miocene amphicyonines, Pseudarctos and Ictiocyon, show any evidence for a hypocarnivorous (majority plant-eating) diet.[9][11]

At the start of their evolution, amphicyonids retained the typical placental dental formula of 3.1.4.33.1.4.3, but each subfamily follows their own trend in modifying their teeth.[8][9] Daphoenines, for example, have dog-like teeth, with substantial premolars and reduced second and third molars. Temnocyonines and haplocyonines take this approach even further, with massive crushing premolars akin to hyenas. Amphicyonines follow the opposite path, reducing most premolars and greatly enlarging and strengthening the carnassials and second molar. Bears also have large molars, but their teeth are modified into wide rectangular forms for grinding plant material. Amphicyonids did not pursue the same adaptations; their molars always maintain a triangular profile for shearing and crushing meat.[8][9] Thaumastocyonines were the most specialized for hypercarnivory, emphasizing massive blade-like carnassials at the expense of the rest of their postcanine teeth.[12][11]

Postcrania

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Early amphicyonids, such as Daphoenodon, possessed a digitigrade posture and locomotion (walking on their toes), while many of the later and larger species were plantigrade or semiplantigrade.[13]

Evolution

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It has long been uncertain where amphicyonids originated. It was thought that they may have crossed from Europe to North America during the Miocene epoch, but recent research suggests a possible North American origin from the miacids Miacis cognitus and M. australis (now renamed as the genera Gustafsonia and Angelarctocyon, respectively). As these are of North American origin, but appear to be early amphicyonids, it may be that the Amphicyonidae actually originates in North America.[3]

Other New World amphicyonids include the oldest known amphicyonid, Daphoenus (37–16 Mya).

Amphicyonids began to decline in the late Miocene, and disappeared by the end of the epoch. The exact reasons for this are unclear. The most recent known amphicyonid remains are teeth known from the Dhok Pathan horizon, northern Pakistan, dating to 7.4-5.3 mya.[14] The species is classically named Arctamphicyon lydekkeri, which may actually be synonymous with a species of Amphicyon.[15]

Fossils of juvenile Agnotherium, Ischyrocyon, and Magericyon all show an unusual type of tooth eruption in which there is a vulnerable stage at about two or three years of age where the subadult animal has no functional molar or carnassial teeth, the only functional cheek teeth being several milk premolars.[16] This period was suggested to be "presumably short" but would have made it very difficult for the animal to process food.[17] This type of tooth replacement is not seen in similar carnivorans like ursids or canids, and may have been one factor in the extinction of the Amphicyonidae.

Classification

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Family Amphicyonidae

Not assigned to a subfamily Subfamily Amphicyoninae Subfamily Haplocyoninae
(Eurasia)[18][19] 		Subfamily Daphoeninae
(North America) 		Subfamily Temnocyoninae
(North America)[20] 		Subfamily Thaumastocyoninae[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b Wang, Xiaoming and Richard H. Tedford (2008). Dogs; their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Columbia University Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 9780231135283.
  2. ^ Hunt Jr., Robert M. (2001). "Small Oligocene Amphicyonids from North America (Paradaphoenus, Mammalia, Carnivora)". American Museum Novitates (3331): 1–20. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2001)331<0001:SOAFNA>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0003-0082. S2CID 198160461. Archived from the original on 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  3. ^ a b Tomiya, Susumu; Tseng, Zhijie Jack (2016). "Whence the beardogs? Reappraisal of the Middle to Late Eocene 'Miacis' from Texas, USA, and the origin of Amphicyonidae (Mammalia, Carnivora)". Royal Society Open Science. 3 (10): 160518. Bibcode:2016RSOS....360518T. doi:10.1098/rsos.160518. PMC 5098994. PMID 27853569. Archived from the original on 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  4. ^ Hunt, Robert M. Jr. (2004). "Global Climate and the Evolution of Large Mammalian Carnivores during the Later Cenozoic in North America" (PDF). Cenozoic Carnivores and Global Climate. pp. 139–285. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2004)285<0139:C>2.0.CO;2. S2CID 86236545. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2007. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Morlo, Michael; Miller, Ellen R.; El-Barkooky, Ahmed N. (2007). "Creodonta and Carnivora from Wadi Moghra, Egypt". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (1): 145–159. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[145:CACFWM]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 86235694.
  6. ^ Sorkin, B. 2008: A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators. Lethaia, Vol. 41, pp. 333–347.
  7. ^ Jacobs, Louis L. Jacobs; Scott, Kathleen Marie: Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Terrestrial carnivores, Cambridge University Press, 1998
  8. ^ a b c d Hunt, R. M. Jr. (1998). "Amphicyonidae" (PDF). In Janis, Christine M.; Scott, Kathleen M.; Jacobs, Louis L. (eds.). Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, volume 1: Terrestrial carnivores, ungulates, and ungulatelike mammals. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 196–227. ISBN 978-0-521-35519-3.
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  12. ^ a b Morales, J.; Fejfar, O.; Heizmann, E.; Wagner, J.; Valenciano, A.; Bella, J. (2019). "A new Thaumastocyoninae (Amphicyonidae, Carnivora) from the early Miocene of Tuchořice, the Czech Republic" (PDF). Fossil Imprint. 75 (3–4): 397–411. doi:10.2478/if-2019-0025. S2CID 210921722. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-14.
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  14. ^ Sehgal, R. K. and A. C. Nanda (2002). "Age of the fossiliferous Siwalik sediments exposed in the vicinity of Nurpur, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh". Current Science. 82 (4): 392–395. JSTOR 24106648.
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  28. ^ Morales, Jorge; Pickford, M.; Valenciano, Alberto (2016). "Systematics of African Amphicyonidae, with descriptions of new material from Napak (Uganda) and Grillental (Namibia)". Journal of Iberian Geology. 42 (2): 131–150. doi:10.13039/501100003329. hdl:10261/137042. ISSN 1698-6180. Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
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  36. ^ Morales; Fejfar; Heizmann; Wagner; Valenciano; Abella (2021). "The Amphicyoninae (Amphicyonidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) Of The Early Miocene From Tuchořice, The Czech Republic". Fossil Imprint. 77 (1): 126–144. doi:10.37520/fi.2021.011. S2CID 245032640. Archived from the original on 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
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