Rhizocyon (root dog) is an early member of the subfamily Borophaginae, an extinct subgroup of canids that were endemic to western North America during the Oligocene epoch, living from ~31—24.5 Ma., existing for approximately 6.5 million years.
Rhizocyon Temporal range: early Oligocene | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Subfamily: | †Borophaginae |
Genus: | †Rhizocyon Wang, Tedford, & Taylor, 1999 |
Species: | †R. oregonensis |
Binomial name | |
†Rhizocyon oregonensis (Merriam, 1906) | |
Range of Rhizocyon based on fossil distribution |
Rhizocyon was similar to a contemporary species, Archaeocyon leptodus, from the Great Plains, but it shows a few subtle differences in the structure of the skull and dentition that indicate that Rhizocyon may be close to the ancestry of later borophagines. Only a single species, R. oregonensis, is known and all fossils come from the John Day Formation in Oregon.[citation needed]
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