Cormocyon

Cormocyon is an extinct genus of borophagine canid native to North America. It lived from the Oligocene to the Early Miocene, 30.8—20.6 Mya, existing for about 10.2 million years. It is regarded as a primitive, transitional member of the Borophagini tribe.

Cormocyon

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
BorophaginiPBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB, for Canidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Canidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 4.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 23.04 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 17 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 11 of 17 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 6 of 17 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 17 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–9.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.3–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27.3 Mya – 23.04 Mya41.7 Mya4.6 Mya

17 occurrences of Cormocyon on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

17 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

7 formations

John Day — 44.67°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.65°WHarrison — 43.00°N, 104.50°WHarrison — 42.40°N, 103.80°WTroublesome — 40.20°N, 106.10°WGering — 41.70°N, 103.10°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WCrystal River — 29.75°N, 82.63°WYolomécatl — 17.46°N, 97.58°W

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The named rock units Cormocyon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cormocyon and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Cormocyon and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

177 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Cormocyon, 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

6 references

Each of the 17 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 Cormocyon

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cormocyon was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itBorophagini through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Wang and Tedford 1992