Ferrucyon

Ferrucyon is an extinct genus of omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, which inhabited North America during the Pliocene, Blancan in the NALMA classification, from about 4.9 to approximately 2.6 Ma.[1] The type species, F. avius, was originally interpreted as a relative of the modern crab-eating fox, and described as a species belonging to the genus Cerdocyon. Ruiz-Ramoni et al. (2020) reinterpreted it as a vulpine canid related to North American species Metalopex macconnelli, and to the Eurasian genus Nyctereutes. This reinterpretation necessitated removal of "Cerdocyon" avius from the genus Cerdocyon, and Ruiz-Ramoni et al. (2020) transferred it to the separate genus Ferrucyon.[2]

Ferrucyon
Temporal range: Pliocene (Blancan)
~4.9–2.6 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: †Ferrucyon
Ruiz-Ramoni et al., 2020
Species:
†F. avius
Binomial name
†Ferrucyon avius
(Tedford et al. 2009)

Taxonomy

Cerdocyon was named by Hamilton-Smith (1839). It was assigned to Canidae by Hamilton-Smith (1839) and Carroll (1988).[3]

F. avius was about 80 centimetres (2.6 ft) long. Fossils of the species have been found in Baja California (Refugio Formation).

References
  1. Paleobiology Database: Cerdocyon avius
  2. Damián Ruiz-Ramoni; Francisco Juan Prevosti; Saverio Bartolini Lucenti; Marisol Montellano-Ballesteros; Ana Luisa Carreño (2020). "The Pliocene canid Cerdocyon avius was not the type of fox that we thought". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40 (2): e1774889. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1774889.
  3. R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company
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