''Ectopocynus'' ("strange dog") is an extinct genus of bone crushing

canid Canidae (; from Latin, '' canis'', " dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found withi ...

which inhabited North America from the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

to the Early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

. It lived from 33.3 to 16.0 Ma and existed for approximately .Paleobiology Database: ''Ectopocynus''
/ref> Remains of ''Ectopocynus'' are limited to

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bon ...

s and teeth only. These reveal that the animal had simple, robust, and blunt yet massive

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

s and reduced or lost cusps on the lower molars. In this respect, ''Ectopocynus'' had many of the characteristics of ''

Enhydrocyon ''Enhydrocyon'' is an extinct genus of bone crushing canid which inhabited North America during the Oligocene and Early Miocene, 30.8—20.4 Ma, existing for approximately . ''Enhydrocyon'' dentition suggests this animal was a hypercarnivore ...

''. This dentition suggests this animal was a

hypercarnivore A hypercarnivore is an animal which has a diet that is more than 70% meat, either via active predation or by scavenging. The remaining non-meat diet may consist of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits or other plant material. Some extant e ...

mesocarnivore A mesocarnivore is an animal whose diet consists of 50–70% meat with the balance consisting of non-vertebrate foods which may include insects, fungi, fruits, other plant material and any food that is available to them. Mesocarnivores are from a ...

References

*Wang, X. 1994
Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora, Canidae)
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 221:1-207. Hesperocyonines Oligocene carnivorans Burdigalian extinctions Miocene carnivorans Oligocene mammals of North America Prehistoric carnivoran genera Rupelian genus first appearances {{canid-stub