Amphicyon, Meles, Siamogale and Arctodus

Vertebrata

Fish

Tetrapoda

Reptilia/Amniota

Archosauromorpha

Basal Archosauromorpha

Mammalia

Terrestrial Younginiformes

Marine Younginiformes

Lepidosauromorpha

Cephalerpeton clade

Captorhinidae

Milleretta Limnoscelis clade

Bolosaurus Diadectes clade

Turtle Pareiasaur clade

Fenestrasauria • Pterosauria

Protosquamata

Squamata

Meles meles (Linneaus 1758; 90cm long) is the European badger here nesting basal to larger short face bears. This nocturnal, social, burrowing omnivore. Litters of five cubs are produced. Males have a larger sagittal crest.

Amphicyon idoneus (YPM VP.013134) was originally considered a bear dog.

Amphicyon longiramus (Lartet 1836, Blainville 1841; Mid-Miocene to Pliocene, 16–9mya; up to 2.5m) is the wide ranging bone-crushing, bear-dog. This is a wastebasket taxon with some specimens (A. longiramus) related to dogs, others (A. galushi) related to hyaenas, while still others (lower right above) nesting between Arctyocyon and Thylacinus.

Amphicyon galushai (Hunt 2003) is a sister to the extant binturong, Arctictis, in the LRT, both nesting with arboreal carnivores like Eofelis.

Arctodus simus (Leidy 1854; Cope 1874; up to 3 to 3.7m tall) is the extinct short-faced bear, one of the largest terrestrial mammalian carnivores of all time. Long limbs made it a fast predator. The two species can be clearly separated based on the relative proportions of their molars and premolars. Here it nests with Gulo, the wolverine, in the LRT.

Tremarctos ornatus (Cuvier 1825) is the extant spectacled bear, a relative of the short-faced bear, Arctodus.

Blainville H 1841. Osteographie et description iconographique comparée du squelette et du systéme dentaire des cinq classes d’animaux vertébrés récents et fossiles. Vol. 6, Carnassiers. Paris: Arthus Bertrand.

Cope ED 1879. The cave bear of California. American Naturalist 13:791.

Cuvier F 1825. Ailurus. Ailurus fulgens. Panda. In: Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire E.; Cuvier F. (eds.) Histoire naturelle des mammifères, avec des figures originales, coloriées, dessinées d'après des animaux vivans: publié sous l'autorité de l'administration du Muséum d'Histoire naturelle (50). A. Belin, Paris.

Lartet E. 1836. Nomenclature des mammiféres et des coquilles qu’il a trouve´s dans un terrain d’eau douce prés de Simorre et de Sansan (Gers). Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 7: 217–220.

Leidy J 1854. Remarks on Sus americanus or Harlanus americanus, and on other extinct mammals. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 7:90.

Linnaeus C 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.

Wang X et al (9 co-authors) 2017. A new otter of giant size, Siamogale melilutra sp. nov. (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora), from the latest Miocene Shuitangba site in north-eastern Yunnan, south-western China, and a total-evidence phylogeny of lutrines. Journal of Systematic Paleontology http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2016.1267666

wiki/Euorpean_badger_Meles_meles
wiki/Short-faced_bear
wiki/Tremarctos
wiki/Amphicyon