Cephalogale

{{Short description|Extinct genus of bears}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|28.4|20}} early Oligocene to Miocene

|image = Cephalogale shareri.jpg

|image_caption = Life reconstruction of Cephalogale shareri

| taxon = Cephalogale

| authority = Jourdan, 1862

| type_species =†Cephalogale geoffroyi

| type_species_authority = Jourdan, 1862

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

†C. shareri (Wang, et al., 2009)

†C. gergoviensis (Viret, 1929)

†C. ginesticus (Kuss, 1962)

†C. geoffroyi (Jourdan, 1862)

}}

Cephalogale is an extinct genus of hemicyonine bear which lived in the Oligocene and Early Miocene epochs in North America and Europe. It lived from around 28.4—20.0 Mya. Before it was reconsidered to be close to the ancestry of hemicyonines, Cephalogale was once considered to be an ancestor of all bears.McLellan B. & Reiner D. C. (1994). "A review of bear evolution". Int. Conf. Bear Res. and Manage. 9(1): 85-89. [http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/URSUS/Vol_9/McLellan_Reiner_Vol_9.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/URSUS/Vol_9/McLellan_Reiner_Vol_9.pdf |date=2022-10-09 }}