OrderCarnivora FamilyCanidae LifespanRed fox: 2 – 4 years
SubfamilyCaninae
G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817 HeightGray wolf: 80 – 85 cm, Coyote: 58 – 66 cm Gestation periodGray wolf: 62 – 75 days, Coyote: 60 – 63 days MassGray wolf: 30 – 80 kg, Coyote: 6.8 – 21 kg Lower classificationsGray wolf, Canis, Coyote, Dhole, Arctic fox
In the history of the carnivores, the family Canidae is represented by the two extinct subfamilies designated as Hesperocyoninae and Borophaginae, and the extant subfamily Caninae. This subfamily includes all living canids and their most recent fossil relatives. Their fossils have been found in Lower Oligocene North America, and they did not spread to Asia until the end of the Miocene, some 7 million to 8 million years ago. Many extinct species of Caninae were endemic to North America, living from 34 million to 11,000 years ago.
"Derived characteristics that distinguish the Caninae from other canids include small, simple, well-spaced premolars, a humerus without an entepicondylar foramen, and a metatarsal 1 which is reduced to a proximal rudiment."
Based on genetic assumptions, the present-day, more-basal canids include:
Genus Urocyon
Gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus
Island fox, Urocyon littoralis)
Genus Otocyon (probably a vulpine close to Urocyon)
Bat-eared fox, Otocyon megalotis
Genus Nyctereutes
Raccoon dog, N. procyonoides
Additional reading
Xiaoming Wang, Richard H. Tedford, Mauricio Antón, Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History, New York : Columbia University Press, 2008; ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3