Hyaenodon

Hyaenodon ("hyena-tooth") is an extinct genus of carnivorous placental mammals from the tribe Hyaenodontini, part of the subfamily Hyaenodontinae, that belonged to the now extinct order Hyaenodonta. The genus was found lived in Eurasia and North America from the Middle Eocene to the Late Miocene, from 38 to 11.4 million years ago, existing for 26.6 million years. Hyaenodon was thought to have evolved in Asia, probably evolving from Propterodon.

Hyaenodon

Ryan Somma · CC BY 2.0 · 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
HyaenodontinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Hyaenodontidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Length
3 mWikidata
Mass
378 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 25 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 15.98 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 11.63 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 184 occurrencesEocene — about 91 of 184 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 80 of 184 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 13 of 184 occurrencesMiocene57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–49 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence46–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 2 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 6 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 15 occurrences37–35 Mya — about 32 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 31 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 26 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 17 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 11 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 8 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 6 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 5 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–18 Mya — about 4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41.03 Mya15.98 Mya56.9 Mya10.7 Mya

184 occurrences of Hyaenodon on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

184 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

35 formations

Brule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WErgilin Dzo — 43.75°N, 111.92°EErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.25°EErgilin Dzo — 43.40°N, 109.10°EErgilin Dzo — 43.73°N, 111.21°EErgilin Dzo — 43.37°N, 108.66°EErgilin Dzo — 44.00°N, 111.00°EErgilin Dzo — 43.33°N, 109.13°EChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.10°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.40°WChadron — 42.90°N, 105.20°WChadron — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WHsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.77°EHsanda Gol — 44.08°N, 106.87°EHsanda Gol — 44.00°N, 108.00°EHsanda Gol — 45.26°N, 101.72°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 102.08°EWhite River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°ECypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WLothidok — 3.33°N, 35.75°ELothidok — 3.22°N, 35.83°EUlantatal — 39.20°N, 105.57°EUlan Gocho — 42.63°N, 111.35°ESespe — 34.30°N, 119.00°WChambers Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.20°N, 103.20°WRenova — 45.00°N, 112.80°WRenova — 46.00°N, 112.00°WDuchesne River — 40.20°N, 109.90°WDuchesne River — 40.10°N, 110.20°WCapote Mountain Tuff — 29.90°N, 104.20°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WXianshuihe — 36.06°N, 103.79°EXianshuihe — 36.20°N, 103.44°EKeziletuogayi — 47.85°N, 86.68°EHouldjin — 42.00°N, 112.00°EBaca — 33.50°N, 108.80°WPalm Peak — 33.10°N, 107.30°WOtay — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hyaenodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 52 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hyaenodon and its relatives

Eocene

Where Hyaenodon and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,416 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 126 sites for Hyaenodon, 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

81 references

Each of the 184 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. 69 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 content3

Picture of Hyaenodon

Credit
Ryan Somma
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Hyaenodon mustelinus · UWYO:UW:547

3D model

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

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

Everything alive alongside itHyaenodontinae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Laizer and Parieu 1838