Eucyon

Eucyon
Temporal range: Late MioceneLate Pliocene,
Fossil skeleton of Eucyon davisi
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: Caninae
Genus: Eucyon
Tedford and Qiu (1996)
Type species
Eucyon davisi
(Merriam, 1911) [originally Canis]
Species

Eucyon (Greek: εὖ eu: good, true; κῠ́ων cyon: dog) is an extinct genus of medium omnivorous coyote-like canid that first appeared in the Western United States during the late Middle Miocene 10 million years ago. It was the size of a jackal and weighed around 15 kg. It was one of the few North American mammals which invaded Eurasia about 6 million years ago, followed by the genus going extinct 3 million years ago. This genus is proposed to have given rise to genus Canis 6 million years ago.:p56–58