Arctocyonidae

Arctocyonidae is an extinct polyphyletic family of placental mammals which lived from the Early Paleocene to the Early Eocene. They first appeared roughly 500,000 years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, which wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs. They were initially regarded as creodonts, though have since been reassigned to an order of their own, the Arctocyonia. They were the most diverse during the Paleocene epoch, although a few such as Anacodon, Chriacus, and Thryptacodon, were present in the Early Eocene. All three genera would go extinct during the Early Eocene roughly 53.1 Ma. Some have suggested that arctocyonids are ancestral to modern-day artiodactyls, or that they form a sister group. However, more recent phylogenetic analyses suggest that arctocyonids may represent an artificial grouping of extinct ungulates, or that they might be an assemblage of unrelated placentals related to pangolins, pantodonts, and periptychids.

Arctocyonidae

Dmitry Bogdanov · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
condylarthPBDB
Sits inside
ProcreodiPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 48.07 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 37.71 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 9 of 920 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 737 of 920 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 174 of 920 occurrencesEocene73–72 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences72–70 Mya — about 2 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 2 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 2 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 35 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 143 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 138 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 63 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 64 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 73 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 77 occurrences59–57 Mya — about 78 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 59 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 42 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 39 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 39 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 39 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 12 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 4 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences66 Mya48.07 Mya72.9 Mya37 Mya

920 occurrences of Arctocyonidae on record, most of them in the Paleocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

920 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

52 formations

Fort Union — 47.10°N, 104.80°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFort Union — 43.85°N, 108.35°WFort Union — 43.70°N, 108.70°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 41.70°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 41.30°N, 107.74°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 101.50°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 44.68°N, 108.32°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.89°N, 108.91°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFort Union — 45.10°N, 106.90°WFort Union — 45.40°N, 105.60°WFort Union — 43.45°N, 109.16°WFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.62°WFort Union — 39.27°N, 108.18°WFort Union — 41.66°N, 107.80°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.46°WFort Union — 44.51°N, 108.88°WFort Union — 44.53°N, 108.96°WFort Union — 44.05°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.88°N, 109.12°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.77°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.78°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 109.01°WFort Union — 44.96°N, 109.01°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.74°WFort Union — 44.85°N, 108.89°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 106.20°WFort Union — 41.68°N, 107.52°WFort Union — 41.83°N, 108.60°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.58°N, 108.90°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.63°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.67°WWillwood — 44.56°N, 108.70°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.62°WWillwood — 44.49°N, 108.81°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.41°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.61°N, 108.33°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.68°WWillwood — 44.38°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.52°N, 108.65°WWillwood — 44.62°N, 108.82°WWillwood — 44.67°N, 108.80°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.85°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WWillwood — 44.15°N, 107.86°WHell Creek — 47.62°N, 107.32°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.21°WHell Creek — 45.87°N, 104.88°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WNacimiento — 36.31°N, 108.00°WNacimiento — 36.30°N, 108.20°WNacimiento — 35.70°N, 107.00°WNacimiento — 36.57°N, 107.97°WNacimiento — 36.18°N, 107.58°WNacimiento — 36.27°N, 107.76°WNacimiento — 36.20°N, 107.78°WNacimiento — 36.07°N, 107.97°WNacimiento — 36.35°N, 108.10°WFerris — 41.80°N, 107.00°WFerris — 41.93°N, 106.86°WNorth Horn — 39.10°N, 111.80°WNorth Horn — 39.00°N, 111.00°WNorth Horn — 39.18°N, 111.27°WNorth Horn — 39.05°N, 111.29°WPaskapoo — 51.00°N, 114.10°WPaskapoo — 52.40°N, 113.80°WPaskapoo — 52.30°N, 113.80°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WPaskapoo — 52.00°N, 114.30°WPaskapoo — 52.20°N, 113.60°WPaskapoo — 52.40°N, 116.10°WPaskapoo — 54.80°N, 115.46°WPaskapoo — 53.23°N, 114.70°WDenver — 39.70°N, 104.70°WDenver — 38.80°N, 104.80°WDenver — 39.50°N, 104.70°WDenver — 38.91°N, 104.53°WRavenscrag — 49.50°N, 109.20°WRavenscrag — 49.60°N, 108.70°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.27°N, 110.33°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WHanna — 41.80°N, 107.00°W"Fort Union" (= Lebo) — 46.20°N, 109.90°W"Fort Union" (= Lebo) — 45.80°N, 109.80°WDeBeque — 39.20°N, 108.20°WDeBeque — 39.27°N, 108.18°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WBear — 46.20°N, 109.90°WBlack Peaks — 29.20°N, 103.20°WBlack Peaks — 29.46°N, 103.15°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.77°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.97°WGoler — 35.58°N, 117.90°WTullock — 47.60°N, 107.00°WTullock — 47.80°N, 106.10°W"Fort Union No. 3" (= Melville) — 45.80°N, 109.80°WEvanston — 41.58°N, 110.68°WEvanston — 41.80°N, 110.70°WPorcupine Hills — 51.00°N, 114.10°WPorcupine Hills — 51.10°N, 114.28°WHoback — 42.70°N, 110.10°WMelville — 45.80°N, 109.80°WSables de Bracheux — 49.27°N, 4.15°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Arctocyonidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 28 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 102 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Arctocyonidae and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Arctocyonidae and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

910 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 505 sites for Arctocyonidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

124 references

Each of the 920 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 112 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Arctocyonidae

Credit
Dmitry Bogdanov
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Arctocyonidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itProcreodi through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Murray 1866