''Pseudarctos'' is a member of the extinct
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Amphicyonidae
Amphicyonidae is an extinct family of terrestrial carnivorans belonging to the suborder Caniformia. They first appeared in North America in the middle Eocene (around 45 mya), spread to Europe by the late Eocene (35 mya), and further spread to As ...
of
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...
carnivore
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...
s belonging to the
suborder
Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...
Caniformia
Caniformia is a suborder within the order Carnivora consisting of "dog-like" carnivorans. They include Canidae, dogs (Wolf, wolves, foxes, etc.), bears, raccoons, and Mustelidae, mustelids. The Pinnipedia (pinniped, seals, walruses and sea lions) ...
, which inhabited
Eurasia
Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
in the
Middle Miocene
The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene.
The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...
subepoch 16.9—11.1
Ma, existing for approximately .
''Pseudarctos'' was named Schlosser in 1899 and was assigned to Amphicyonidae by Carroll (1988). It was the size of a large fox.
Systematic Paleontology
/ref>
Fossil distribution
''Pseudarctos'' has been uncovered in Tung Gur China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, Sandberg, Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, and Malartic, a la ferme Larrieu, France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
References
Amphicyonidae
Miocene carnivorans
Tortonian extinctions
Cenozoic mammals of Asia
Cenozoic mammals of Europe
Burdigalian first appearances
Monotypic prehistoric carnivoran genera
{{paleo-carnivora-stub