Eucyon davisi ( Merriam, 1911 )

Rook, Lorenzo, 2009, The wide ranging genus Eucyon Tedford & Qiu, 1996 (Mammalia, Carnivora, Canidae, Canini) in the Mio-Pliocene of the Old World, Geodiversitas 31 (4), pp. 723-741 : 728

Eucyon davisi ( Merriam, 1911)

TYPE LOCALITY. — See above.

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE IN ASIA. — China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan.

CHRONOLOGIC RANGE. — Latest Miocene to early Pliocene.

Canini not distinct at the specific level from the typical North American species E. davisi , have been reported in the early Pliocene fossil record of China by Tedford & Qiu (1996). These authors report the occurrence of E. davisi in China along with that of another species ( E. zhoui Tedford & Qiu, 1996 , see later) that has no New World counterpart, suggesting later Miocene differentiation in the genus prior to its appearance in the Asian record ( Tedford & Qiu 1996). Chinese specimens attributed to this species include complete skulls (while the North American record does not include complete good skulls). The Chinese material has been used by Tedford & Qiu (1996) to characterize cranial morphology of the species.

In addition to the material from the Yushe Basin ( China), a few other findings referable to E. davisi have been recently reported from earliest Pliocene in Mongolia (Khirgis Nur, upper levels, and Sangin Dalay Nur) and Kazakhstan (Pavlodar) ( Sotnikova & Rook 2009) ( Fig. 2 ).

The occurrence of E. davisi in Pliocene sediments in China and Mongolia extends the geographic and geologic range of this taxon (surviving here until the mid Pliocene, perhaps around 2.5 Ma), with an enormous temporal range of more than 6 Ma, from about 9 to 2.5 Ma ( Tedford & Qiu 1996).

Figures

FIG. 2. — The early and mid-Pliocene Eucyon Tedford & Qiu, 1996 distribution: A, during early and mid-Pliocene times (◇) the genus Eucyon had a wide distribution across Eurasia. The very late record of the genus (○, late Pliocene/middle Villafranchian) seems to be limited to central Asia and to the more arid areas of eastern Eurasia (Turkey, North Africa); B, the typical Pliocene species from Europe E. adoxus (Martin, 1973) from St-Estève (near Perpignan, France; MN 15), cast of skull (approximate length 18 cm) and mandible (reversed) RSS-45 (Basel Naturhistorisches Museum);C, E. davisi (Merriam, 1911) from Hsia Kou (Yushe basin, China; Pliocene),cast of skull (approximate length 15 cm) F:AM-97056 (American Museum of Natural History, New York); D, E. zhoui Tedford & Qiu, 1996 from Chao Chuang (Yushe basin, China; Pliocene), cast of skull (reversed) and mandibular ramus (approximate length of mandibular ramus 10 cm) F:AM-97048 (American Museum of Natural History, New York).