Natural History

Actiocyon

Actiocyon is an extinct genus of ailurid mammal that lived in western North America during the Middle Miocene. It was named by Chester Stock in 1947 for the species Actiocyon leardi. A second species, Actiocyon parverratis, was described in 2016. A. leardi is only known from one specimen, while A. parverratis is known from three specimens. Both species of Actiocyon were small carnivores, with A. leardi known to have lived in a coastal environment while A. parverratis lived in a high-altitude temperate forest. They differ from the closely-related European genus Alopecocyon in the characteristics of the teeth, and from Simocyon in their overall smaller size. A. leardi may have weighed about 7 kilograms (15 lb), while A. parverratis was somewhat smaller.

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See also

• ▸Blackbuck
• ▸Contact tracing
• ▸Bantay

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