''Sinopa'' ("swift fox")
is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
hyaenodontid mammal from family
Sinopidae, that lived in
North America and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
during the early to middle
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
.
Description
''Sinopa'' was a small genus of hyaenodontid mammals. Its
carnassial
Carnassials are paired upper and lower teeth modified in such a way as to allow enlarged and often self-sharpening edges to pass by each other in a shearing manner. This adaptation is found in carnivorans, where the carnassials are the modified ...
teeth were the second upper molar and the lower third. ''Sinopa'' species had an estimated weight of 1.33 to 13.97 kilograms. The
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...
was found in the Bridger formation in
Uinta County, Wyoming
Uinta County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 20,450. Its county seat is Evanston. Its south and west boundary lines abut the Utah state line.
Uinta County comprises the E ...
, and existed 50.3 to 46.2 million years ago.
Taxonomy
The putative African species ''"Sinopa" ethiopica'' from
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
was considered a species of ''
Metasinopa'' by Savage (1965), although Holroyd (1994) considered it a potential new genus related to ''
Quasiapterodon''.
[Lewis, M. E., Morlo, M. (2010): Creodonta. – In : Werdelin, L., Sanders, W. (eds), Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 543–560. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520257214.003.0026]
Phylogeny
The phylogenetic relationships of genus ''Sinopa'' are shown in the following cladogram.
[G. F. Gunnell (1998.) "Creotonda." In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), "Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America, Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulate like Mammals"]
See also
*
Mammal classification
Mammalia is a class of animal within the phylum Chordata. Mammal classification has been through several iterations since Carl Linnaeus initially defined the class. No classification system is universally accepted; McKenna & Bell (1997) and Wilson ...
*
Sinopidae
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7524925
Hyaenodonts
Eocene mammals of North America
Eocene United States
Eocene genus first appearances
Fossil taxa described in 1871
Prehistoric placental genera