Arctodus simus

Arctodus is an extinct genus of short-faced bears that inhabited North America during the Pleistocene. The two recognized species are the lesser short-faced bear and the giant short-faced bear. Of these species, A. simus was larger, is known from more complete remains, and is considered one of the best-known members of North America's extinct Ice Age megafauna. A. pristinus was largely restricted to the Early Pleistocene of the eastern United States, whereas A. simus had a broader range, with most finds being from the Late Pleistocene of the United States, Mexico and Canada. A. simus evolved from A. pristinus, but both species likely overlapped in the Middle Pleistocene. Both species are relatively rare in the fossil record.

Arctodus simus

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
giant short-faced bearPBDB
Sits inside
ArctodusPBDB
Diet
herbivore, carnivorePBDB, for Ursidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ursidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.4 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 1 of 32 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 31 of 32 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 32 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 0.7 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 24 occurrences1.4 Mya129 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

32 occurrences of Arctodus simus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

32 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

7 formations

Palm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WTule — 34.51°N, 101.41°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WFloral — 50.80°N, 103.90°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Arctodus simus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 25 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Arctodus simus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Arctodus simus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

489 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Arctodus simus, and this reads all 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

31 references

Each of the 32 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. 19 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 content2

Picture of Arctodus simus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itArctodus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cope 1879)