''Lycaon'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of canid which includes the

African wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called painted dog and Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lycaon'', which is disti ...

(''Lycaon pictus'') and the extinct species '' Lycaon sekowei'' and ''Lycaon magnus''.

Taxonomy

This

hypercarnivorous A hypercarnivore is an animal that 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 example ...

and highly

cursorial A cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. cheetah) or if it can keep a constant speed for a long distance (high endurance). "Cursorial" is often ...

genus is distinguished by accessory

cusp A cusp is the most pointed end of a curve. It often refers to cusp (anatomy), a pointed structure on a tooth. Cusp or CUSP may also refer to: Mathematics * Cusp (singularity), a singular point of a curve * Cusp catastrophe, a branch of bifu ...

s on the

premolar The premolars, also called premolar Tooth (human), teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the Canine tooth, canine and Molar (tooth), molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per dental terminology#Quadrant, quadrant in ...

s. It branched from the wolflike canids lineage during the

Plio-Pleistocene The Plio-Pleistocene is an informally described geological pseudo-period, which begins about 5 million years ago (Mya) and, drawing forward, combines the time ranges of the formally defined Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs—marking from about 5&n ...

. Since then, ''Lycaon'' has become lighter and tetradactyl, but has remained hypercarnivorous. ''Lycaon sekowei'' is known from the early Pleistocene epoch of South Africa and was less

. Some researchers consider the extinct ''Canis''

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

'' Xenocyon'' as ancestral to both ''Lycaon'' and ''

Cuon The dhole ( ; ''Cuon alpinus'') is a Canidae, canid native to South Asia, South, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. It is anatomically distinguished from members of the genus ''Canis'' in several aspects: its skull is convex rather than conca ...

''. Other researchers propose that the extinct ''Canis'' (''Xenocyon'') ''falconeri'' and ''Canis'' (''Xenocyon'') ''lycaonoides'' should be classified under genus ''Lycaon'', to give the descent of three chronospecies: ''L. falconeri'' in the Late Pliocene of Eurasia → ''L. lycaonoides'' in the Early Pleistocene and the beginning of the

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

of Eurasia and Africa → ''L. pictus'' in the Middle–Late Pleistocene and today the extant African descendant.

References

{{Authority control African wild dogs Carnivoran genera Mammal genera with one living species Taxa named by Joshua Brookes

Taxonomy

See also

References