Simocyon
{{Short description|Extinct genus of carnivores}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = late Miocene to early Pliocene
| image = Simocyon primigenius.JPG
| image_caption = Simocyon primigenius lower jaw at Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Paris.
| taxon = Simocyon
| authority = Wagner, 1858
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
- †S. batalleri (Viret, 1929)
- †S. diaphorus (Kaup, 1832)
- †?S. hungaricus Kretzoi in Kadic and Kretzoi, 1927
- †S. primigenius (type species) (Roth and Wagner, 1854)
| synonyms =
- Amphalopex Kaup, 1861
- Araeocyon Thorpe, 1922
- Metarctos Gaudry, 1860
}}
Simocyon ("short-snouted dog") is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America and Africa.{{cite journal |last=Howell |first=F. Clark |author-link=Francis Clark Howell |author2=Garcia, Nuria |title=Carnivora (Mammalia) From Lemudong'o (Late Miocene: Narok District, Kenya) |journal=Kirtlandia |volume=556 |pages=121–139 |publisher=Cleveland Museum of Natural History |location=Cleveland |date=December 2007 |url=http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/hlusko/kirt-56-00-121.pdf |access-date=2009-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113320/http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/hlusko/kirt-56-00-121.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04}}
Classification
File:Simocyon batalleri head.jpg
The relationship of Simocyon to other carnivores has been controversial, but studies of the structure of its ear, teeth, and ankle now indicate that its closest living relative is the red panda, Ailurus,{{cite journal |last1= Wang|first1= Xiaoming|title= New cranial material of Simocyon from China, and its implications for phylogenetic relationship to the red panda(Ailurus)|journal= Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|year= 1997|volume= 17|issue= 1|pages= 184–198|doi= 10.1080/02724634.1997.10010963|bibcode= 1997JVPal..17..184W}} although it is different enough to be classified in a separate subfamily (Simocyoninae) along with related genera Alopecocyon and Actiocyon.
Palaeoecology
While the red panda is primarily herbivorous, the teeth and skull of Simocyon indicate that it was carnivorous, and it may have engaged in some bone-crushing, like living hyenas.{{cite journal |last1=Peigné |first1=S. |last2=Salesa |first2=M. J. |last3=Antón|first3=M.|last4=Morales |first4=J. |date=2005 |title=Ailurid carnivoran mammal Simocyon from the late Miocene of Spain and the systematics of the genus |url=http://app.pan.pl/acta50/app50−219.pdf |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=219–238 }} The skeleton of Simocyon indicates that, like the red panda, it could climb trees,{{Cite journal |last1=Fabre |first1=Anne-Claire |last2=Salesa |first2=Manuel J. |last3=Cornette |first3=Raphael |last4=Antón |first4=Mauricio |last5=Morales |first5=Jorge |last6=Peigné |first6=Stéphane |date=13 May 2015 |title=Quantitative inferences on the locomotor behaviour of extinct species applied to Simocyon batalleri (Ailuridae, Late Miocene, Spain) |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00114-015-1280-9 |journal=The Science of Nature |language=en |volume=102 |issue=5–6 |doi=10.1007/s00114-015-1280-9 |bibcode=2015SciNa.102...30F |issn=0028-1042 |access-date=21 November 2024 |via=Springer Nature Link}} although it probably also spent considerable time on the ground.{{cite journal |last1=Salesa |first1=M. J. |last2=Antón |first2=M. |last3=Peigné |first3=S. |last4=Morales |first4=J. |date=2008 |title=Functional anatomy and biomechanics of the postcranial skeleton of Simocyon batalleri (Viret, 1929) (Carnivora, Ailuridae) from the late Miocene of Spain |url= https://zenodo.org/record/5442636|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=152 |issue= 3|pages=593–621 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00370.x }} Simocyon and Ailurus both have a radial sesamoid, an unusual bone in the wrist that acts as a false thumb.{{cite journal |last1= Salesa|first1= Manuel J.|last2= Antón|first2= Mauricio|last3= Peigné|first3= Stéphane|last4= Morales|first4= Jorge|title= Evidence of a false thumb in a fossil carnivore clarifies the evolution of pandas|journal= Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|year= 2006|volume= 103|issue= 2|pages= 379–382|doi= 10.1073/pnas.0504899102|pmid= 16387860|pmc= 1326154|bibcode= 2006PNAS..103..379S|doi-access= free}} Its competitors during its time period were ailuropodine and tremarctine bears, nimravid false cats, and early canids and felids.
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{Cite journal|doi=10.1007/s00114-015-1280-9 |title=Quantitative inferences on the locomotor behaviour of extinct species applied to Simocyon batalleri (Ailuridae, Late Miocene, Spain) |year=2015 |last1=Fabre |first1=Anne-Claire |last2=Salesa |first2=Manuel J. |last3=Cornette |first3=Raphael |last4=Antón |first4=Mauricio |last5=Morales |first5=Jorge |last6=Peigné |first6=Stéphane |journal=The Science of Nature |volume=102 |issue=5–6 |page=30 |pmid=25968493 |bibcode=2015SciNa.102...30F |s2cid=253632525 }}
- {{Cite journal|author=Tedrow, A. R. |author2=Baskin, J. A. |author3=Robinson, S. F. |author4=Gillette, D. D. |date=1999|title= An additional occurrence of Simocyon (Mammalia, Carnivora, Procyonidae) in North America. |journal=Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah |pages=487–493}}
- {{Cite journal|doi=10.1127/0077-7749/2011/0188 |title=A skull of Simocyon primigenius (Roth & Wagner, 1854) (Carnivora, Ailuridae) from the late Miocene of Karaslari (Republic of Macedonia), with remarks on the systematics and evolution of the genus |year=2011 |last1=Spassov |first1=Nikolai |last2=Geraads |first2=Denis |journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen |volume=262 |issue=2 |pages=151–161 }}
- {{Cite journal|issn=0272-4634 |year=2008 |volume=28 |page=928 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[928:TSSOSD]2.0.CO;2 |title=The second specimen of Simocyon diaphorus(Kaup, 1832) (Mammalia, Carnivora, Ailuridae) from the type–locality Eppelsheim (Early late Miocene, Germany) |last1=Kullmer |first1=Ottmar |last2=Morlo |first2=Michael |last3=Sommer |first3=Jens |last4=Lutz |first4=Herbert |last5=Engel |first5=Thomas |last6=Forman |first6=Markus |last7=Holzförster |first7=Frank |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |issue=3 |s2cid=129956051 }}
{{Musteloidea|Mea.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q1607239|from2=Q3015313|from3=Q119361718|from4=Q119361740|from5=Q119361727}}
Category:Neogene mammals of Africa
Category:Neogene mammals of Asia
Category:Neogene mammals of Europe
Category:Neogene mammals of North America
Category:Prehistoric carnivoran genera
Category:Miocene genus first appearances
Category:Taxa named by Johann Andreas Wagner
Category:Fossil taxa described in 1858
{{paleo-carnivora-stub}}