Cerdocyonina is an extant

subtribe Subtribe is a taxonomic category ranking which is below the rank of tribe and above genus. The standard suffix for a subtribe is -ina (in animals) or -inae (in plants). The first use of this word dates back to the late 19th century. An example of ...

of the canini and is endemic to the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. It is a sister lineage to the subtribe Canina. There are 10 extant species. Its members are colloquially known as the South American canids.

Taxonomy

Cerdocyonina is a natural lineage whose common ancestor was sister to the ''Eucyon–Canis–Lycaon'' lineage. It is represented in the fossil record of North America by ''Cerdocyon'' 6-5 million years ago, and by '' Theriodictis'' and ''Chrysocyon'' 5–4 million years ago. The fossil of a large form of the extinct ''Theriodictis'' that dates 2 million years ago was found in Florida. The maned wolf and an extinct species of the crab-eating zorro were in North America around this time, which was before the

Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama, historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North America, North and South America. The country of Panama is located on the i ...

came into being, indicating the origin of the Cerdocyonina in North America. Prior to the 1990s there have been different systematic hypotheses pertaining to the relationships among South American canids, most frequent was the notion of there being three genera and subgenera after Langguth 1969 and 1970: * Genus ''

Cerdocyon The crab-eating fox (''Cerdocyon thous''), also known as the forest dog, wood fox, bushfox (not to be confused with the bush dog) or maikong, is an Extant taxon, extant species of medium-sized Canidae, canid endemic to the central part of South ...

'' ** Subgenus '' Atelocynus'' ** Subgenus ''Cerdocyon'' ** Subgenus '' Speothos'' * Genus ''

Dusicyon ''Dusicyon'' is an extinct genus of South American canids. Taxonomy The type species is ''Dusicyon australis'', the Falkland Islands wolf. In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established this genus, in which he included the culpeo and other South Ame ...

'' ** Subgenus ''

Lycalopex The South American foxes (''Lycalopex''), commonly called ''raposa'' in Portuguese, or ''zorro'' in Spanish, are a genus inhabiting South America. Despite their name, they are not true foxes, but are a unique canid genus more closely related t ...

'' (Langguth recognized it as "''Pseudalopex''") ** Subgenus †''Dusicyon'' * Genus '' Chrysocyon'' Morphological and DNA evidence shows that the South American canids, being the most diverse group of canids on any continent, forms its own natural group. In 2018, a study found that the extinct South American '' Canis gezi'' did not fall under genus ''Canis'' and should be classified under the Cerdocyonina, however no genus was proposed.

Genetic lineage

In 2005, a genetic study revealed the cladogram below, modified to incorporate recent findings on ''

'' species and ''

''.

Common ancestor

In 2022, a study sequenced the

genomes A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

of the living members of Cerdocyonina, which indicates that they commenced diversifying from a common ancestor between 3.9—3.5 million years ago. This finding is consistent with the ancestor arriving in South America from Central America through the

and then entering into eastern South America. The subtribe then expanded to occupy the entire continent.

References

Animal subtribes Canini (tribe) {{Canid-stub