Lycalopex

The South American foxes (Lycalopex), commonly called raposa in Portuguese, or zorro in Spanish, are a genus inhabiting South America. Despite their name, they are not true foxes, but are a unique canid genus more closely related to wolves and jackals than to true foxes; some of them resemble foxes due to convergent evolution. The South American gray fox, Lycalopex griseus, is the most common species, and is known for its large ears and a highly marketable, russet-fringed pelt.

Lycalopex

Culpeo_MC2.jpg : * Culpeo_MC.jpg : Christian Mehlführer, User:Chmehl derivative work: WolfmanSF ( talk ) Zoo América-… · 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
South American foxPBDB
Sits inside
CaninaePBDB
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 5.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 40 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 40 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 40 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 33 of 40 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 31 occurrences5.333 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

40 occurrences of Lycalopex on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

40 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

12 formations

Lujan — 38.57°S, 58.70°WLujan — 34.60°S, 59.15°WLujan — 34.61°S, 59.43°WSopas — 31.25°S, 57.00°WSopas — 32.05°S, 56.12°WTarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WNuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WLaguna de Tagua Tagua — 34.50°S, 71.17°WVorohué — 38.12°S, 57.70°WMiramar — 38.17°S, 57.65°WSalto Ander Egg — 32.07°S, 60.55°WArroyo Seco — 38.18°S, 57.65°WArroyo Feliciano — 32.03°S, 60.62°WDolores — 34.44°S, 57.20°WEnsenada — 34.88°S, 57.93°W

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The named rock units Lycalopex has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 24 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lycalopex and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lycalopex and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

411 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Lycalopex, 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

25 references

Each of the 40 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. 13 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 content3

Picture of Lycalopex

Credit
Culpeo_MC2.jpg : * Culpeo_MC.jpg : Christian Mehlführer, User:Chmehl derivative work: WolfmanSF ( talk ) Zoo América-…
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lycalopex griseus · FMNH:Mammals:154639

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itCaninae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Burmeister 1854)