Enhydrocyon basilatus

Enhydrocyon basilatus Temporal range: Late Oligocene–Early Miocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	†Hesperocyoninae
Genus:	†Enhydrocyon
Species:	†E. basilatus
Binomial name
Enhydrocyon basilatus Cope, 1878

Enhydrocyon basilatus is an extinct species of bone crushing hesperocyonid dog that lived during the Late Oligocene to Miocene living from 24.8—20.6 Ma and existed for approximately 4.2 million years. ^[1]

The dentition of E. basilatus' suggests this animal was a hypercarnivore or mesocarnivore.^[2][3]

Taxonomy

Enhydrocyon basilatus was named by Cope (1879). It was recombined as Hyaenocyon basilatus by Cope (1879); it was revalidated by Matthew (1907) and Wang (1994). It was assigned to Hyaenocyon by Cope (1879); and to Enhydrocyon by Cope (1879), Matthew (1907) and Wang (1994).^[4][5]

Morphology

Two specimens were examined by Legendre and Roth for body mass.^[6]

• 35.8 kg (79 lb)
• 31.8 kg (70 lb).

References

1. Paleobiology Database: Enhydrocyon basilatus, Basic info.
2. R. M. Nowak. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press (edited volume) II
3. Q. Ji, Z.-X. Luo, C.-X. J.R. Yuan Wible, J.-P. Zhang, and J.A. Georgi. 2002. The earliest known eutherian mammal. Nature 416:816-822
4. W. D. Matthew. 1907. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 23(9)
5. X. Wang. 1994. Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora: Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 221:1-207
6. S. Legendre and C. Roth. 1988. Correlation of carnassial tooth size and body weight in recent carnivores (Mammalia). Historical Biology 1(1):85-98

• Wang, X. (1994). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora, Canidae)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 221: 1–207. hdl:2246/829.
• Xiaoming Wang