Xenocyon


Xenocyon is an extinct subgenus of Canis. The group includes Canis africanus, Canis antonii and Canis falconeri that gave rise to Canis lycanoides. The hypercarnivore Xenocyon gave rise to the modern dhole and the African wild dog.

Taxonomy

Xenocyon is proposed as a subgenus of Canis named Canis. One taxonomic authority proposes that as part of this subgenus, the group named Canis ex gr. falconeri would include all of the large hypercarnivorous canids that inhabited the Old World during the Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene: Canis africanus in Africa, Canis antonii in Asia and Canis falconeri in Europe. Further, these three could be regarded as extreme geographical variations within the one taxon. This group was hypercanivorous, had a large body size that is comparable with the northern populations of the modern gray wolf and are characterized by a short neurocranium relative to their skull size.
The ancestral condition for canids is to have five toes on their forelimbs, but by the Early Pleistocene this lineage had reduced this to four, which is also a characteristic feature of the modern African wild dog. The African wild dog cannot be positively identified in the fossil record of eastern Africa until the middle Pleistocene, and identifying the oldest Lycaon fossil is difficult because these are hard to distinguish from Canis africanus. Some authors consider Canis lycanoides as ancestral to the genera Lycaon and Cuon. Therefore, one taxonomic authority has proposed that all of the Canis group should be reclassified into the genus Lycaon. This would form three chronospecies: Lycaon falconeri during the Late Pliocene of Eurasia, Lycaon lycaonoides during the Early Middle Pleistocene of Eurasia and Africa and Lycaon pictus from the Middle Late Pleistocene to present.

''Canis'' (''Xenocyon'') ''africanus''

The species was originally named Canis africanus but was later reassigned as Canis africanus. It existed during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of Africa.

''Canis'' (''Xenocyon'') ''antonii''

The species was originally named Canis antonii but was later reassigned as Canis antonii. It existed during the late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of Asia. The name was applied to Late Pliocene fossils of canids with hypercarnivorous dentition that were found in China at the sites Loc. 33, Loc. 64. and Fan Tsun. The species was recorded in Europe as Canis falconeri.

''Canis'' (''Xenocyon'') ''falconeri''

Upper Valdarno is the name given to that part of the Arno valley situated in the provinces of Florence and Arezzo, Italy. The region is bounded by the Pratomagno mountain range to the north and east and by the Chianti mountains to the south and west. The Upper Valdarno Basin has provided the remains of three fossil canid species dated to the Late Villafranchian era of Europe 1.9-1.8 million years ago that arrived with a faunal turnover around that time. It is here that the Swiss paleontologist Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major discovered Falconer's wolf . The species was later reassigned as Canis falconeri, but was later regarded as the European arrival of Canis antonii. The species gave rise to Canis lycanoides.

''Canis'' (''Xenocyon'') ''lycaonoides''

The species was originally named Xenocyon lycaonoides but was later reassigned as Canis lycanoides. It existed from the Early Pleistocene to the Middle Pleistocene in Africa and Eurasia. The diversity of the wolf-sized species decreased by the end of the Early Pleistocene and into the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Asia. These wolves include the large hypercarnivorous Canis lycaonoides that was comparable in size with the modern gray wolf northern populations and the small Mosbach wolf that is comparable in size to the modern Indian wolf. Both types of wolves could be found existing from England and Greece across Europe to the high latitudes of Siberia through to Transbaikalia, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and China. The true gray wolves did not make an appearance until the end of the Middle Pleistocene, 500-300 thousand years ago.
It preyed on antelope, deer, elephant calves, aurochs, baboons, wild horses and possibly humans. It was probably the ancestor of the African wild dog and possibly the dhole of southeastern Asia, the extinct Sardinian dhole and perhaps two extinct Javanese dogs and the Trinil dog ).
Just before the appearance of the dire wolf, North America was invaded by the genus Xenocyon, which was as large as C. dirus and more hypercarnivorous. The fossil record shows them as rare and it is assumed that they could not compete with the newly derived C. dirus. These have been ascribed to Xenocyon lycaonoides, with Xenocyon texanus from as far south as Texas as its taxonomic synonym.