Kingdom Animalia Class Mammalia Family Canidae Scientific name Paraenhydrocon josephi | Phylum Chordata Order Carnivora Subfamily †Hesperocyoninae Rank Species | |
Similar Osbornodon, Enhydrocyon, Cynarctoides, Archaeocyon, Mesocyon | ||
Paraenhydrocyon josephi ("beside Enhydrocyon") is an extinct species of the genus Paraenhydrocyon, a somewhat small bone crushing omnivorous mammal similar to a dog of the family Canidae which inhabited North America during the Oligocene living from 33.3—20.6 Ma and existed for approximately 12.7 million years.
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Taxonomy
Paraenhydrocyon was named by Cope (1881). It was recombined as Mesocyon josephi by Scott (1890), Matthew (1907), Loomis (1936), Hough (1948), Stevens (1991) and Wang and Fremd (1994); it was recombined as Hypotemnodon josephi by Matthew (1899); it was recombined as Paraenhydrocyon josephi by Wang (1994), Fremd and et al. (1994) and Wang and Tedford (1996). It was assigned to Temnocyon by Cope (1881); to Hypotemnodon by Matthew (1899); to Mesocyon by Scott (1890), Matthew (1907), Loomis (1936), Hough (1948), Stevens (1991) and Wang and Fremd (1994); and to Paraenhydrocyon by Wang (1994), Fremd and et al. (1994) and Wang and Tedford (1996).
Morphology
Two specimens were examined by Legendre and Roth for body mass. The first specimen was estimated to weigh 6.92 kg (15 lb). The second specimen was estimated to weigh 6.62 kg (15 lb).