Suborder Caniformia Family Ursidae Phylum Chordata Order Carnivores | Superfamily Arctoidea Rank Genus | |
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Plionarctos is an extinct genus of mammals of the family Ursidae (bears) endemic to North America and Europe during Miocene through Pleistocene, living from ~10.3—3.3 Mya, existing for about 7 million years.
Contents
Indarctos (10.7—9.2 Mya) preceded Plionarctos by only a few thousand years and was a contemporary of that bear and shared its habitat. Plionarctus preceded and was also contemporary with Tremarctos floridanus (4.9 million — 11,000 years ago) and shared its habitat.
Plionarctos is the oldest known genus within the subfamily of the short-faced bears (Tremarctinae) endemic to the Americas, and is believed to be ancestral to the clade.
Taxonomy
Plionarctos was named by Frick (1926). Its type is Plionarctos edensis. It was assigned to Ursidae by Frick (1926) and Carroll (1988); and to Tremarctini by Hunt (1998).
Body mass
Two specimens were examined by Legendre and Roth for body mass.
Fossil distribution
Sites and specimen ages: