dnaoodb: professional biology database , biology encyclopedia
in biology, The extinct Hesperocyoninae are one of three subfamilies found within the canid family. he other two canid subfamilies are the extinct Borophaginae and extant Caninae.
An analysis of the fossil record of North American fossil carnivores shows that competition from felids and borophagines led to a near-extinction decline in hesperocionin from about 20 million years ago to 10 million years ago. It has been found.
Hesperocyoninae was named by Martin (1989). The members of this subfamily were reassigned to the family Canidae (with no subfamily) by Xiaoming Wang in 1999.
Hesperocyoninae are basal canids that gave rise to the other canid groups, including the Borophaginae and Caninae according to Wang and Tedford.
This disused subfamily were endemic to North America living from the Duchesnean stage of the Late Eocene through the early Barstovian stage of the Miocene lasting around 20 million years. It comprises a total of 10 recognized genera and 26 recognized species; among these, 4 genera and 8 species are new. Four major lineages can be defined based on shared characteristics:
The genus Caedocyon, which is only known from a single partial cranium that shows some Paraenhydrocyon affinities, probably represents another independent lineage.
Hesperocyon, which lacks the shared derived characters that would include it within any of the aforementioned clades, is possibly ancestral to many of the lineages. Some evidence indicates the Paraenhydrocyon clade may be directly descended from Hesperocyon gregarius. According to Xiaoming Wang, Hesperocyon coloradensis provides an important link between H. gregarius and the Mesocyon-Enhydrocyon clade.