Eucyon

Eucyon is an extinct genus of medium-sized omnivorous coyote-like canid that first appeared in the Western United States during the late Middle Miocene 10 million years ago. It was the size of a jackal and weighed around 15 kg. It was one of the few North American mammals which invaded Eurasia about 6 million years ago, followed by the genus going extinct 3 million years ago. This genus is proposed to have given rise to genus Canis 6 million years ago.

Eucyon

Skye McDavid · 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
Sits inside
CaniniPBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Canidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 5.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 9.4 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 12.5 Mya to 774 ka.

Miocene — about 45 of 76 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 27 of 76 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 76 occurrencesPleistocene13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–9.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.2–8.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.8–8.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.9–7.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.5–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.6–6.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.2–5.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.8–5.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.4–4.9 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.9–4.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.5–4.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.1–3.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.7–3.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.0–1.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.5–1.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.1–698 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4 Mya3.6 Mya13 Mya274 ka

76 occurrences of Eucyon 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

76 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

31 formations

Glenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°WOgallala — 38.90°N, 101.70°WOgallala — 35.70°N, 102.30°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.08°N, 100.67°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.00°N, 100.70°WChalk Butte — 43.60°N, 117.50°WMcKay — 45.50°N, 118.80°WChamita — 36.50°N, 107.00°WQuiburis — 32.50°N, 110.60°WBig Sandy — 34.70°N, 113.40°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WVenta del Moro-Villatoya — 39.48°N, 1.35°WSagantole — 10.52°N, 40.47°ESagantole — 10.43°N, 40.42°EPanaca — 37.80°N, 114.30°WAlkali Canyon — 45.84°N, 119.29°WBidahochi — 35.80°N, 110.10°WRingold — 46.30°N, 119.10°WBanta Shut-In — 29.27°N, 103.05°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WThousand Creek — 41.10°N, 117.80°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WMehrten — 37.60°N, 120.80°WPinole Tuff — 37.97°N, 122.25°WCigarron — 37.92°N, 1.16°WGoliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°W

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The named rock units Eucyon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 29 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eucyon and its relatives

Miocene

Where Eucyon and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

759 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 70 sites for Eucyon, 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 76 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 content1

Picture of Eucyon

Credit
Skye McDavid
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Eucyon 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 itCanini through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Tedford and Qiu 1996