Ursoidea
{{Short description|Superfamily of mammals}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|fossil_range = Bartonian - Present
{{fossil_range|37|0}}
|image = Cephalogale shareri.jpg
|image_caption = Life reconstruction of Cephalogale shareri
|image2 = Brown bear (Ursus arctos), Viiksimo, Kainuu region, Finland, 16 June 2018 (43094873292).jpg
|image2_caption = Brown bear (Ursus arctos)
|taxon = Ursoidea
|authority = Fischer von Waldheim, 1817
|subdivision_ranks = Families
|subdivision =
}}
Ursoidea is a superfamily of arctoid carnivoran mammals that includes the families Subparictidae,{{cite book |last1=Baskin |first1=J. A.|last2=Tedford |first2=R. H.|chapter=Small arctoid and feliform carnivorans |title=The Terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene Transition in North America, Part II: Common Vertebrates of the White River Chronofauna |year=1996 |pages=486–497 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511665431.025 |isbn=978-0-521-43387-7 }}{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/02724634.2022.2145900 |title=An exquisitely preserved skeleton of Eoarctos vorax (Nov. Gen. Et sp.) from Fitterer Ranch, North Dakota (Early Oligocene) and systematics and phylogeny of North American early arctoids (Carnivora, Caniformia) |year=2022 |last1=Wang |first1=Xiaoming |last2=Emry |first2=Robert J. |last3=Boyd |first3=Clint A. |last4=Person |first4=Jeff J. |last5=White |first5=Stuart C. |last6=Tedford |first6=Richard H. |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=42 |pages=1–123 |s2cid=259025727 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2022JVPal..42S...1W }} Amphicynodontidae,{{cite journal | last1 = McLellan | first1 = B. | last2 = Reiner | first2 = D.C. |year=1992 |title= A review of bear evolution |journal= International Association for Bear Research and Management |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=85–96 |doi=10.2307/3872687| jstor = 3872687 | s2cid = 91124592 | url = https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a5db/fd5dd863f9d68bc07d99e5bea2a4540647ab.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200219120709/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a5db/fd5dd863f9d68bc07d99e5bea2a4540647ab.pdf | archive-date = 2020-02-19 }} and Ursidae. The last family includes the extant lineages of bears, as well as the extinct Hemicyoninae{{Cite journal|author=Louis De Bonis |year=2013 |title=Ursidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the Late Oligocene of the "Phosphorites du Quercy" (France) and a reappraisal of the genus Cephalogale Geoffroy, 1862 |journal=Geodiversitas |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=787–814 |doi=10.5252/g2013n4a4 |s2cid=131561629 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/4538147 }}{{Cite journal|author=L. de Bonis |year=2011 |title=A new species of Adelpharctos (Mammalia, Carnivora, Ursidae) from the late Oligocene of the "Phosphorites du Quercy" (France) |doi=10.3989/egeol.40553.181 |journal=Estudios Geológicos |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=179–186 |doi-access=free }} and Ursavinae.{{cite journal |author=Qiu, Zhan-Xiang|display-authors=etal|title=A Late Miocene Ursavus skull from Guanghe, Gansu, China |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=52 |issue=3 |date=2014 |pages=265–302}}
The interrelationships of ursoids has had slight arrangements. In the past it was thought the extinct Amphicyonidae were stem-bears based on morphological analysis of the ear region,{{Cite journal|issn=0003-0082 |year=2001 |page=1-20 |doi=10.1206/0003-0082(2001)331<0001:SOAFNA>2.0.CO;2 |title=Small Oligocene Amphicyonids from North America (Paradaphoenus, Mammalia, Carnivora) |last1=Hunt Jr. |first1=Robert M. |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=3331 |s2cid=198160461 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/178870 }} though the most recent publications on early amphicyonids suggests they were basal caniforms.{{cite journal |last=Hunt |first=Robert M. Jr. |date=2004 |title=Global Climate and the Evolution of Large Mammalian Carnivores during the Later Cenozoic in North America |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/453/8/B285a11.pdf |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=2004 | issue=285 |pages=139–285 |doi= 10.1206/0003-0090(2004)285<0139:C>2.0.CO;2|s2cid=86236545 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070720132104/http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/453/8/B285a11.pdf |archive-date=July 20, 2007}}{{Cite journal|issn=0272-4634 |year=2007 |volume=27 |issue=1 |page=145-159 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[145:CACFWM]2.0.CO;2 |title=Creodonta and Carnivora from Wadi Moghra, Egypt |last1=Morlo |first1=Michael |last2=Miller |first2=Ellen R. |last3=El-Barkooky |first3=Ahmed N. |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |s2cid=86235694 }}{{Cite journal|url=http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/10/160518|doi=10.1098/rsos.160518 |title=Whence the beardogs? Reappraisal of the Middle to Late Eocene 'Miacis' from Texas, USA, and the origin of Amphicyonidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) |year=2016 |last1=Tomiya |first1=Susumu |last2=Tseng |first2=Zhijie Jack |journal=Royal Society Open Science |volume=3 |issue=10 |page=160518 |pmid=27853569 |pmc=5098994 |bibcode=2016RSOS....360518T }}
The amphicynodontids are sometimes classified as either a subfamily of bears, a paraphyletic assemblage of early bears, or even stem-pinnipeds.{{Cite journal | last1 = Tedford | first1 = R. H. | author-link = Richard H. Tedford | last2 = Barnes | first2 = L. G. | last3 = Ray | first3 = C. E. | title = The early Miocene littoral ursoid carnivoran Kolponomos: Systematics and mode of life | year = 1994 | journal = Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History | volume = 29 | pages = 11–32 | url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pdf1/000389400021705.pdf | access-date = 24 July 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922142556/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pdf1/000389400021705.pdf | archive-date=2012-09-22 }}{{cite journal | last1=Rybczynski|first1=N. | last2=Dawson|first2=M.R. | last3=Tedford|first3=R.H. | year = 2009 | title = A semi-aquatic Arctic mammalian carnivore from the Miocene epoch and origin of Pinnipedia | journal = Nature | volume = 458 | issue = 7241 | pages = 1021–24 | doi = 10.1038/nature07985 | pmid = 19396145|bibcode=2009Natur.458.1021R |s2cid=4371413 }}{{cite journal | last1=Berta|first1=A. | last2=Morgan|first2=C. | last3=Boessenecker|first3=R.W. | year = 2018 | title = The Origin and Evolutionary Biology of Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses | journal = Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences | volume = 46 | pages = 203–228 | doi = 10.1146/annurev-earth-082517-010009|bibcode=2018AREPS..46..203B | doi-access=free }} The subparictids were previously classified as amphicynodontine/ids. The hemicyonines have been occasionally reclassified as a separate family.McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. {{ISBN|0-231-11013-8}}