Carpocyon

Carpocyon is an extinct genus of the Borophaginae subfamily of canids native to North America. It lived from the Middle to the Late Miocene, 13.6 to 5.3 Ma Mya, existing for approximately 16.5 million years. The four species in the genus varied in size, with the largest being about the size of a wolf; all had relatively small teeth, suggesting a diet that was more omnivorous than that of other contemporary borophagines.

Carpocyon

Noles1984 · Public Domain · 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
Sits inside
BorophaginaPBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB, for Canidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Canidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 12.5 Mya to 9.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 16.3 Mya to 4.7 Mya.

Miocene — about 46 of 47 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 47 occurrencesPliocene16–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 3 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.7–9.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.2–8.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.8–8.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.4–8.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.0–7.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.6–7.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.1–6.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.7–6.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.9–5.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.5–5.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12.5 Mya9.4 Mya16.8 Mya4.2 Mya

47 occurrences of Carpocyon on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

47 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

11 formations

Valentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 100.70°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WTesuque — 36.50°N, 107.00°WTesuque — 35.50°N, 106.20°WPawnee Creek — 40.80°N, 104.20°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WJuntura — 43.60°N, 117.50°WBrowns Park — 40.60°N, 108.10°WEsmeralda — 38.25°N, 117.90°WChamita — 36.50°N, 107.00°WMilk Creek — 34.50°N, 112.50°WDove Spring — 35.37°N, 117.99°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Carpocyon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Carpocyon and its relatives

Miocene

Where Carpocyon and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

463 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 47 sites for Carpocyon, 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

10 references

Each of the 47 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. 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 Carpocyon

Credit
Noles1984
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Carpocyon robustus · UCMP:V:33569

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 itBorophagina through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Webb 1969