''Cladosictis'' is an extinct genus of South American

metatheria Metatheria is a mammalian clade that includes all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. First proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1880, it is a more inclusive group than the marsupials; it contains all marsupials as well ...

n from Patagonia, Argentina (

Chichinales Chichinales is a village and municipality in Río Negro Province in Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an a ...

, Cerro Bandera,

Sarmiento Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province *Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province *Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdivi ...

and Santa Cruz Formations) and Chile (

Río Frias Formation Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

).''Cladosictis''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org

Description

''Cladosictis'' was a

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

-like creature that was around long.''Cladosictis'' probably hunted for eggs and small animals in the low undergrowth, using its low posture for cover. With sharp canines and slicing carnassials, ''Cladosictiss teeth were similar to those of

carnivora Carnivora is a Clade, monophyletic order of Placentalia, placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all felidae, cat-like and canidae, dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are f ...

ns, although the groups were unrelated.

References

External links

* Sparassodonts Miocene mammals of South America Colhuehuapian Santacrucian Friasian Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Neogene Chile Fossils of Chile Fossil taxa described in 1887 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Prehistoric mammal genera Neuquén Basin Cerro Bandera Formation Chichinales Formation Golfo San Jorge Basin Sarmiento Formation Austral or Magallanes Basin Santa Cruz Formation {{paleo-marsupial-stub