Borophaginae Totally Explained

Everything about Borophaginae totally explained

The subfamily Borophaginae is an extinct group of canids that were endemic to North America, and lived from roughly 40 to 2.5 million years ago (Oligocene to Pliocene).
   The Borophaginae apparently descended from the subfamily Hesperocyoninae; they evolved to become considerably larger than their predecessors, and filled a wide range of niches in late Cenozoic North America, from small omnivores to powerful, bear-sized carnivores such as Epicyon.
   Often generically referred to as "bone-crushing dogs" for their powerful teeth and jaws, and hyena-like features (although their dentition was more primitive than that of hyenas), their fossils are abundant and widespread; in all likelihood, they were probably one of the top predators of their ecosystem., Their good fossil record has also allowed a detailed reconstruction of their phylogeny, showing that the group was highly diverse in its heyday. Some borophagines were as big as modern day lions. Some resembled raccoons or coyotes and might have been omnivorous.
   Noteworthy genera in this group are Aelurodon, Epicyon, and Borophagus (=Osteoborus).

Classification

Borophagine taxonomy, following Wang et al.

Family Canidae
- Subfamily †Borophaginae
  - †Archaeocyon
  - †Oxetocyon
  - †Otarocyon
  - †Rhizocyon
  - Tribe †Phlaocyonini
    - †Cynarctoides
    - †Phlaocyon
  - Tribe †Borophagini
    - †Cormocyon
    - †Desmocyon
    - †Metatomarctus
    - †Euoplocyon
    - †Psalidocyon
    - †Microtomarctus
    - †Protomarctus
    - †Tephrocyon
    - Subtribe †Cynarctina
      - †Paracynarctus
      - †Cynarctus
    - Subtribe †Aelurodontina
      - †Tomarctus
      - †Aelurodon
    - Subtribe †Borophagina
      - †Paratomarctus
      - †Carpocyon
      - †Protepicyon
      - †Epicyon
      - †Borophagus (=Osteoborus)

Cladogram showing borophagine interrelationships, following Wang et al., figure 141: | label2=Borophagini | 2= | 2= | label3=Borophagina | 3= }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

Further Information

Get more info on 'Borophaginae'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://borophaginae.totallyexplained.com">Borophaginae Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.