Aelurodon

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in biology, Aelurodon is an extinct genus of the Borophaginae Subtribes of canids native to North America. Aelurodon is an extinct canine genus of the subfamily Borophaginae which lived from the Barstovian land mammal age (16 Mya) of the middle Mioceneto the Clarendonian age of the late Miocene (9 Mya). Aelurodon existed for approximately 7 million years.

Scientific classification

Alias:: Aelurodon

Protection level:: 8

Named by and Year:: Leidy, 1858

Domain:: Eukaryota

Kingdom:: Animalia

Phylum:: Chordate

Subphylum:: Subphylum Vertebrata

Class:: Class Mammalia

Subclass:: Eutheria

Order:: Carnivora

Suborder:: Schizopoda

Family:: Canidae

Subfamily:: Borophaginae

Trlbe:: Borophagini

Subtribes:: Aelurodontina

Genus:: Aelurodon

Mode Of Reproduction:: Viviparous

Reproductive Form:: Sexual Reproduction

Description

Aelurodon are a part of a clade of canids loosely known as "bone-crushing" or "hyena-like" dogs, that apparently descended from the earlier genera Protomarctus and Tomarctus. Several species are known from fossils found in the central and western U.S., suggesting a wide geographic range during their peak in the Miocene epoch. Large species of Aelurodon (A. ferox and A. taxoides) may have hunted in packs like modern wolves.

The evolution of Aelurodon is characterized by the progressive development of teeth adapted to a more hypercarnivorous diet, a trend consistent with other borophagines. The earliest occurrence of the genus is A. asthenostylus dating from 16–14 Ma. This species then gives rise to two different anagenetic clades around 15 Ma. One comprises the species A. montaneis, A. mcgrewi and A. stirtoni, going extinct around 12 Ma. The other clade persists until 5.3 Ma and includes A. ferox and A. taxoides. A. taxoides is the most derived and largest species in Aelurodon.