Microtomarctus is an extinct monospecific genus of the Borophaginae subfamily of canids native to North America. It lived during the Early to Middle Miocene,[1] and existed for approximately 7 million years. Fossil specimens have been found in Nebraska, coastal southeast Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. It was an intermediate-size canid, and more predaceous than earlier borophagines.[2]

Microtomarctus
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Middle Miocene
Replica of lower jaw at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: Borophaginae
Tribe: Borophagini
Genus: Microtomarctus
Wang et al., 1999
Species:
M. confertus
Binomial name
Microtomarctus confertus
Matthew, 1918

Like some other borophagines it had powerful, bone-crushing jaws and teeth.[citation needed]

References

edit
  1. ^ PaleoBiology Database: Microtomarctus Taxonomy, Species
  2. ^ Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H. (2008). Dogs, Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Columbia. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-231-13528-3.