Eucyon intrepidus Morales, Pikford & Soria, 2005

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 : 733

Eucyon intrepidus Morales, Pikford & Soria, 2005

TYPE LOCALITY. — Kapsomin (Tugen Hills, Kenya).

AGE. — Latest Miocene.

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE. — Kenya.

This species is the earliest known Canini in Africa. First described for material from the latest Miocene of Kapsomin (Tugen Hills, Lukeino Fm.; Morales et al. 2005), it has been identified also from the latest Miocene site of Lemudong’o( Howell &García2007). Both the occurrences are in Kenya ( Fig. 1 ). This species (like the second African one? E. wokari García, 2008 ; see below) differs from the typical contemporary North American and European species ( E. davisi and E. monticinensis respectively) by its smaller size and the greater relative heights of the trigonid cusps. This African species is described as characterized by a shorter talonid in respect to European and North American Eucyon . The sample from Kapsomin ( Morales et al. 2005) does not include a lower carnassial, but this tooth has been recovered from Lemudong’o ( Howell & García 2007). According to Howell &García (2007), M 1 talonid has an open occlusal basin without a cristid linking hypoconid and entoconid, one of the diagnostic features for the genus Eucyon .

Figures

FIG. 1. — The latest Miocene Eucyon Tedford & Qiu, 1996 dispersal: A, oldest record of E. davisi (Merriam, 1911) is from Early Hemphillian localities in the western North America (●). The genus quickly expands its record to east in the central and south eastern North America, where it is a common element in late Hemphillian local faunas (□). The late Miocene (MN 12-13 in the European mammal biochronology; ○ locations correspond to time of transcontinental dispersal of the genus, across the Beringia, towards Asia, Europe, and Africa; B, type specimen of E. davisi, right M1-2 in occlusal view (M1 length measures about 10 mm) from Rattlesnake creek, early Hemphillian, Oregon (UCMP545; Earth Sciences Dept., University of Florence); C, D, E. monticinensis (Rook, 1992) left M1 in lingual (C) and occlusal (D) views (M1 length about 17 mm) from Monticino Quarry near Brisighella (BRS27/6; Earth Sciences Dept., University of Florence); E, the figure is completed by a reconstructed scene of a group of adult Eucyon moving eastward in a late Miocene Central Asia grassland scenario. The artistic scene aims to ideally represent the dispersal of the genus Eucyon from North America to the Old World during the latest Miocene.