Borophagus littoralis

Borophagus littoralis is an extinct species of the genus Borophagus of the subfamily Borophaginae, a group of canids endemic to North America from the Late Miocene from 11.6 to 9.4 Mya. Borophagus littoralis existed for approximately 2.2 million years.

Borophagus littoralis

Patricia Holroyd · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
BorophagusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Borophagus
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Canidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At most 7.2 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 12.5 Mya and 5.333 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 8 of 8 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 8 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.7–9.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.5–9.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.4–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13 Mya4.8 Mya

8 occurrences of Borophagus littoralis on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

8 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Dove Spring — 35.30°N, 118.50°WGreen Valley — 37.81°N, 121.91°WChanac — 35.30°N, 118.50°W"Santa Margarita" — 35.10°N, 118.80°W

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The named rock units Borophagus littoralis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Borophagus littoralis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Borophagus littoralis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

58 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Borophagus littoralis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 8 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Borophagus littoralis

Credit
Patricia Holroyd
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Borophagus littoralis was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBorophagus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (VanderHoof 1931)