Cyonasua
| Cyonasua | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Procyonidae |
| Genus: | †Cyonasua Ameghino, 1885 |
| Species | |
| |
Cyonasua (meaning "dog-coati" in
Epecuén, Huayquerías, Monte Hermoso, Chapadmalal, Maimará, Ensenada, La Playa, Chiquimil, Andalhuala, and Cerro Azul Formations), Bolivia (Tariquía Formation),[1] Uruguay (Camacho Formation),[2] and Venezuela (San Gregorio Formation).[3] The oldest well-dated fossils of Cyonasua are approximately 7.3 million years old.[4] Most fossils of Cyonasua are late Miocene to early late Pliocene (Huayquerian to Chapadmalalan SALMAs, 7.3-3 million years old) in age, but a single early Pleistocene specimen (the holotype and only known specimen of Cyonasua meranii) indicates that members of this genus survived until at least 0.99 million years ago (the fossil layer where this specimen was collected dating to the Jaramillo Chron).[5][6]
Cyonasua is the oldest terrestrial
island hopping before the formation of the Isthmus of Panama
.
Cyonasua arrived in South America when ecosystems there were still dominated by
opossums were much smaller than most procyonids, the large, omnivorous Cyonasua could occupy an otherwise unoccupied niche in South American ecosystems.[8]
Cyonasua was much larger than any extant procyonid, weighing about 15–25 kg, about the same size as a medium-sized dog.
Limb bones of Cyonasua suggest that this genus was a generalized terrestrial mammal with some capability to dig and climb, similar to
coatis (Nasua).[11][12] Fossils of Cyonasua have been found inside crotovines (fossil burrows), but these are thought to have been made by the large armadillo Ringueletia and later occupied by Cyonasua.[13] The teeth of Cyonasua suggest it was omnivorous, more carnivorous than most living procyonids, but less carnivorous than the modern ringtails (Bassariscus spp.)[8][14]
References
- S2CID 213340538.
- S2CID 135212698.
- ^ S2CID 253635703.
- ^ PMID 21125025.
- ^ Berta, A.; Marshall, L. G. (1978). "South American Carnivora". In Westphal, F. (ed.). Fossilium catalogus, I: Animalia. Vol. 125. The Hague: Dr. W Junk Publishers. pp. 1–48.
- .
- ^ ISBN 978-3-319-03701-1.
- ^ .
- S2CID 90408657.
- ^ Kraglievich, J.L.; de Olazabal, A.G. "Los prociónidos extinguidos del género Chapalmalania Amegh". Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Ciencias Zoologícas. 6: 1–59.
- S2CID 73435251.
- hdl:11336/49712.
- S2CID 83862150.
- S2CID 129068918.