Sardinian dhole
| Sardinian dhole Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene-Holocene | |
|---|---|
| Drawing of the skeleton of C. sardous scale bar = 20 cm | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Subfamily: | Caninae |
| Tribe: | Canini |
| Genus: | †Cynotherium Studiati, 1857 |
| Type species | |
| Cynotherium sardous Studiati, 1857 | |
| Other species | |
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| Former range (in red) | |
The Sardinian dhole (genus Cynotherium especially C. sardous) is an extinct insular canid which was endemic to what is now the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica during the Middle-Late Pleistocene. It went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene around the time of human settlement of the islands.
Its scientific name means "dog-beast of Sardinia", the genus name from the Ancient Greek: θήρ, romanized: thḗr, lit. 'beast', 'wild animal' and κύων, kyōn, 'dog' and the specific name from the Latin: Sardous, lit. 'of Sardinia', alt. form of Latin: Sardus.
Around the size of a jackal, morphological studies indicate it was a specialised stalking predator of small mammals and birds, with a probable preference for the endemic Sardinian pika.