Bear dog

Amphicyonidae; Temporal range: 42–2.6 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Middle Eocene – Late Pliocene
	Skeleton of Amphicyon
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Caniformia
Family:	†Amphicyonidae; Haeckel, 1886
Subfamilies
	†Amphicyoninae; †Daphoeninae; †Temnocyoninae

The Amphicyonidae or bear dogs, is an extinct family of large terrestrial carnivores.

They belonged to the dog-like suborder Caniformia. It had a wide distribution in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. They lived from the Eocene epoch to the Pleistocene epoch 46.2 – 1.8 million years ago (mya), for a total of about 44.4 million years or from the Paleocene to the Quaternary period.^[1]

Originally they evolved in the Old World, but crossed over to the Americas during the Miocene epoch. This would happen at a time when crossing was possible via the Bering Strait.^[2]

References[change | change source]

↑ "Paleobiology Database: Amphicyonidae, age range and collections". Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
↑ Hunt, Robert M, Jr. 2003. Intercontinental migration of large mammalian carnivores: earliest occurrence of the Old World beardog Amphicyon (Carnivora, Amphicyonidae) in North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 279, 77-115

[1] "Paleobiology Database: Amphicyonidae, age range and collections". Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2014-04-26.

[Hunt1-2] Hunt, Robert M, Jr. 2003. Intercontinental migration of large mammalian carnivores: earliest occurrence of the Old World beardog Amphicyon (Carnivora, Amphicyonidae) in North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 279, 77-115

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