Arctocyonidae
| Arctocyonidae | ||||||||||||
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Arctocyon |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Paleocene | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Arctocyonidae | ||||||||||||
| Gable , 1855 | ||||||||||||
The Arctocyonidae are an extinct group of mammals that are fossilized from the Paleocene and were found in Europe and North America. They were considered to be the most primitive group of the so-called original ungulates (condylarthra), a non- monophyletic and no longer recognized taxon.
features
The Arctocyonidae looked like small bears and were probably omnivorous too. Her skull was elongated and reinforced at the top by a bone crest. The temporomandibular joint was low on the skull. The canines were large, those of the lower jaw larger than those of the upper jaw. With their mouths closed, they reached into a tooth gap between the upper canine teeth and the premolars . The molars had low crowns, similar to today's bears. There was no tendency to develop a scissor bite like today's predatory mammals have. The legs of the animals were relatively short, the tail was long. The toes had claws.
Genera
- Prolatidens , an archaic arctocyonid.
- Arctocyon , bear-like, from Europe.
- Arctocyonides , smaller and slimmer than Arctocyon .
- Chriacus , a lightly built agile form.
- Landenodon
- Mentoclaenodon
literature
- Jordi Augusti, Mauricio Antón: Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids. 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. Columbia University Press, New York NY et al. 2002, ISBN 0-231-11640-3 .
- Thomas S. Kemp: The Origin & Evolution of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2005, ISBN 0-19-850761-5 .
