Borophagus

Borophagus ("gluttonous eater") is an extinct genus of the Canidae family, endemic to North America. The species were similar in appearance to modern-day hyenas, and weighed between 20 kilograms (44 lb) and 40 kilograms (88 lb). There are eight known species that lived from around 12 million years ago to about 2 million years ago.

Borophagus Temporal range: Middle Miocene to Early Pleistocene,
Borophagus secundus skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Subfamily:	Borophaginae
Tribe:	Borophagini
Subtribe:	Borophagina
Genus:	Borophagus Cope, 1892
Type species
†Borophagus diversidens
Other species
†B. dudleyi †B. hilli †B. littoralis †B. orc †B. parvus †B. pugnator †B. secundus
Synonyms
†Cynogulo Kretzoi, 1968 †Hyaenognathus Merriam, 1903 †Porthocyon Merriam, 1903 †Osteoborus

Borophagus Media

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  Borophagus littoralis

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  B. secundus, collected from Texas. At the AMNH.

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  Restoration by Charles R. Knight, 1902

References

• Alan Turner, "National Geographic: Prehistoric Mammals" (Washington, D.C.: Firecrest Books Ltd., 2004), pp. 112–114. ISBN 0-7922-7134-3
• Xiaoming Wang, "The Origin and Evolution of the Dog Family" Accessed 1/30/06.

Further reading

• Picture of an Osteoborus skull in a museum, from "World of the Wolf." (Accessed 6/19/06)
• Russell Hunt, "Ecological Polarities Of the North American Family Canidae: A New Approach to Understanding Forty Million Years of Canid Evolution" (Accessed 1/30/06).
• Wang et al., "Phylogenetic Systematics of the Borophaginae (Carnivora:Canidae)." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, No. 243, Nov. 17 1999. (PDF) (Accessed 4/11/06) Archived 2007-03-20 at the Wayback Machine
• 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