Osbornodon

Osbornodon Temporal range: Early Oligocene to Early Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	†Hesperocyoninae
Genus:	†Osbornodon Wang, 1994
Type species
†Osbornodon fricki
Species
†O. brachypus †O. fricki †O. iamonensis †O. renjiei †O. sensoni †O. scitulus †O. wangi

Osbornodon ("Osborn's dog") is an extinct genus of canids (family Canidae that existed from the Oligocene epoch to Early Miocene 32-18 Mya in North America.

Seven known species of the genus Osbornodon existed, including Osbornodon fricki (18 Ma), Osbornodon iamonensis (synonyms: Cynodesmus nobilis, Paradaphoenus tropicalis) (21 Ma), Osbornodon renjiei (33 Ma), and Osbornodon sesnoni (32 Ma).

Species

Osbornodon scitulus appears to be a transitional species that partially fills a large morphological and stratigraphical gap within the Osbornodon genus. Compared to Osbornodon renjiei and Osbornodon sesnoni, Osbornodon scitulus possesses derived characters such as large frontal sinus, high sagittal crest, narrow infraorbital canal, short bulla, and broad premolars. O. scitulus differs from Osbornodon wangi in larger size and relatively wider P3 and shorter P4. O. scitulus is distinguishable from O. iamonensis and later species in its primitive characters such as a non-elongated rostrum, paroccipital process that is not expanded posteriorly, mastoid process not reduced, and p4 not differentially enlarged relative to p3 (Wang, 2003).

References

• R. M. Nowak. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press (edited volume) II (K. Behrensmeyer/K. Behrensmeyer/J. Alroy)
• Wang, X. 1994. Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora, Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 221:1-207.
• Wang, X. 2003. New Material of Osbornodon from the Early Hemingfordian of Nebraska and Florida. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 279:163-176.
• Paleo Data Base - Osbornodon