''Ysengrinia'' is an extinct genus of

carnivoran Carnivora is a monophyletic order of placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all cat-like and dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are formally referred to as carnivorans, ...

in the family Amphicyonidae (beardogs), which lived in Europe, Asia, and North America during the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

. It was also reported from Egypt and Namibia, but this material has been reassigned to other genera of beardogs ('' Namibiocyon'' and '' Mogharacyon'').

Description

In North America, ''Ysengrinia'' was part of the faunal turnover ∼23 to 18 Ma, when native larger creodonts and carnivores (including the beardog ''

Daphoenus ''Daphoenus'' is an extinct genus of bear dogs. ''Daphoenus'' inhabited North America from the Middle Eocene to the Middle Miocene, 37.2—16.0 Mya, existing for approximately . Species ''D. hartshornianus'' fossils found in Oligocene Orellan ...

'') were replaced by species emigrating from Eurasia. The genus established a presence across the continent; along with the wide distribution of fossils globally, this suggests ''Ysengrinia'' was flexible in its habits. North American fossil sediments suggest that individuals often lived or found food along rivers and near waterholes. The species may have been dimorphic, with larger males (as in

canids Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', " dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found within ...

and

felids Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the dom ...

) or females (as in hyaenids).

Taxonomy

''Ysengrinia'' seems to have been rare throughout its range; most fossils are isolated teeth and jaw or skull fragments. Material from outside North America is usually referred to ''Y. ginsburgi'', though other species have been proposed; the fragmentary nature of the fossils and possible variation within species makes any identification at the species level difficult. The most complete fossils have been found in North America, so descriptions of the living animal are based on the North American ''Y. americana'' (Wortman, 1901). Several studies have suggested that ''Ysengrinia'' is polyphyletic.Morales, J., Fejfar, O., Heizmann, E., Wagner, J., Abella, J., Valenciano, A. (2019)
A new Thaumastocyoninae (Amphicyonidae, Carnivora) from the early Miocene of Tuchořice Czech Republic.
– Fossil Imprint 75: 397–411. https://doi.org/10.2478/if-2019-0025Jorge Morales, Juan Abella, Oscar Sanisidro & Alberto Valenciano (2021
Ammitocyon kainos gen. et sp. nov., a chimerical amphicyonid (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the late Miocene carnivore traps of Cerro de los Batallones (Madrid, Spain)
''Journal of Systematic Palaeontology'', 19:5, 393-415, DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2021.1910868 Cladistic analysis recovers ''“Ysengrinia” americana'' to be outside the group that includes the rest of the genus, while ''“Ysengrinia” valentiana'' is more closely related to ''Thaumastocyon'' than to the type species ''Ysengrinia gerandia''. It is also pointed out that ''Y. americana'' has notable differences in the upper dentition compared to the rest of the genus, and displays a morphotype less adapted to hypercarnivory. ''Ysengrinia tolosana'' and ''Ysengrinia depereti'', only known from their lower dentition, were not included in the analysis, and are in an uncertain systematic position. ''Y. gerandia'' and ''“Y.” valentiana'' both belong to the Thaumastocyoninae, while ''“Y.” americana'' may either be the sister taxon of that subfamily, or be more closely related to Amphicyonines. Below is the cladogram based on cranial, mandibular and dental characters, after Morales et al., 2021:Jorge Morales, Juan Abella, Oscar Sanisidro & Alberto Valenciano (2021
Ammitocyon kainos gen. et sp. nov., a chimerical amphicyonid (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the late Miocene carnivore traps of Cerro de los Batallones (Madrid, Spain)
''Journal of Systematic Palaeontology'', 19:5, 393-415, DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2021.1910868 Fossils from Arrisdrift in Namibia and Moghra in Egypt have also been referred to this genus as ''Ysengrinia ginsburgi''. This, however, has been rejected since, although the actual genera to which these fossils belong has been a topic of debate. Morlo et al. (2019) allocated the material from Arrisdrift to the genus ''Cynelos'', as ''C. ginsburgi'', and created the new species ''Cynelos anubisi'' for the one from Egypt. Morales et al. (2016)MORALES J., PICKFORD M. & VALENCIANO A. 2016. �
Systematics of African Amphicyonidae, with descriptions of new material from Napak (Uganda) and Grillental (Namibia).
Journal of Iberian Geology 42 (2): 131-150. http://hdl.handle.net/10261/137042 first referred ''Y. ginsburgi'' to the genus ''Afrocyon'', but a later study by the same lead author erected the new genera ''Namibiocyon'' and ''Mogharacyon'' for the two taxa.

References

Bear dogs Miocene carnivorans Miocene genus extinctions Prehistoric mammals of North America Prehistoric mammals of Europe Miocene mammals of Africa Chattian genus first appearances Prehistoric carnivoran genera {{paleo-carnivora-stub