Cerdocyonina, TEDFORD R. H. & WANG X. & TAYLOR B. E., 2009

TEDFORD R. H., WANG X. & TAYLOR B. E., 2009, Phylogenetic Systematics Of The North American Fossil Caninae (Carnivora: Canidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2009 (325), pp. 1-218 : 78

Subtribe Cerdocyonina , new subtribe

The recognition of the monophyly of the South American canids (except Urocyon and Canis ) and the inclusion with them of the Eurasia Nyctereutes , the ‘‘raccoon-dog’’ has made the erection of the Cerdocyonina a plausible taxonomic statement ( Tedford et al., 1995). These taxa, representing diverse adaptations, can be diagnosed by the following synapomorphies: angular process of the mandible wide, may lack hooklike termination, expansion accommodates widened insertions for pterygoid muscle segments, especially that for the medial branch of the internal pterygoid; posterior cusp of p3 weak or absent; and m1 hypoconid and entoconid, joined by cristids.

The Cerdocyonina lacks the strongly arched zygoma and often the second posterior cusp on p4 between the cingulum and the large first cusp, which marks them as primitive relative to Eucyon and its sister taxon the subtribe Canina , which shares these synapomorphies.