Hesperocyon

Hesperocyon is an extinct genus of canids belonging to the subfamily Hesperocyoninae of the canid family that was endemic to North America, ranging from southern Canada to Colorado. It appeared during the Uintan age, –Bridgerian age (NALMA) of the Mid-Eocene– 42.5 Ma to 31.0 Ma. (AEO). Hesperocyon existed for approximately 11.5 million years.

Hesperocyon

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
HesperocyoninaePBDB
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 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 39.7 Mya to 29.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 45.9 Mya to 18.5 Mya.

Eocene — about 59 of 172 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 113 of 172 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1 of 172 occurrencesMiocene46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 1 occurrence37–36 Mya — about 17 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 17 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 17 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 39 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 45 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 22 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 5 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 4 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39.7 Mya29.5 Mya46.4 Mya18 Mya

172 occurrences of Hesperocyon 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

172 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

9 formations

Brule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 42.00°N, 104.20°WBrule — 41.80°N, 103.80°WBrule — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.10°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.40°WChadron — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 46.10°N, 103.30°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.75°N, 103.65°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 40.80°N, 103.10°WWhite River — 42.00°N, 104.20°WWhite River — 40.97°N, 106.22°WRenova — 45.00°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.00°N, 112.00°WRenova — 45.90°N, 112.25°WCypress Hills — 50.20°N, 107.60°WCypress Hills — 50.00°N, 107.90°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.80°N, 109.00°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WSage Creek — 45.00°N, 112.80°WCook Ranch — 45.00°N, 112.80°WDunbar Creek — 45.70°N, 111.00°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 119.63°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hesperocyon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 58 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hesperocyon and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Hesperocyon and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

655 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 171 sites for Hesperocyon, 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

34 references

Each of the 172 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. 22 further references are not listed. 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 content2

Picture of Hesperocyon

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itHesperocyoninae through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Scott 1890