''Dusicyon cultridens'' or ''Dusicyon patagonicus cultridens'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

canid 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 the ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the genus ''

Dusicyon ''Dusicyon'' is an extinct genus of South American canids. The type species is ''Dusicyon australis'', the Falkland Islands wolf. In 1914, Oldfield Thomas established this genus, in which he included the culpeo and other South American foxes. ...

''. However, the classification of this species is poorly researched and debatable. Some scientists place this species in the genera ''

Canis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant species, such as wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-developed skulls and den ...

'' and ''

Lycalopex The South American foxes (''Lycalopex''), commonly called ''raposa'' in Portuguese, or ''zorro'' in Spanish, are a genus from South America of the subfamily Caninae. Despite their name, they are not true foxes, but are a unique canid genus more ...

''.Soibelzon, L.H., Ceniz, M. M., Prevosti, F. J., Soibelzon, E. Y Tartarini, V. B.
Dos nuevos registros de ''Dusicyon'' Hamilton-Smith, 1839 (Canidae, Mammalia) en el Plioceno y Pleistoceno de la región Pampeana (Argentina). Aspectos sistemáticos, tafonómicos, y bioestratigráficos
Congreso Uruguayo de Geología, Montevideo 2007. URL last retrieved 2018-08-11.

Distribution

''Dusicyon cultridens'' is only known from fossil remains in Argentina. It lived in the

Late Pliocene Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

(

Uquian The Uquian age is a period of geologic time (3.0–1.5 Ma) within the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs of the Neogene used more specifically with South American Land Mammal Ages. It follows the Montehermosan and precedes the Ensenadan The Ensenad ...

in the SALMA classification), from approximately 2.8 to 2.6 million years ago. It was around at about the same time as the rodent '' Akodon lorenzinii''. The fossils were found at cliffs near the Atlantic Ocean, in what is now the coastline of the province of Buenos Aires.

Habitat and characteristics

''Dusicyon cultridens'' lived in the South American temperate grasslands (pampas). Its size was between that of existing species such as the

pampas fox The Pampas fox (''Lycalopex gymnocercus''), also known as grey pampean fox, Pampas zorro, Azara's fox, or Azara's zorro (in Spanish also called , anglicized as aguarachay, in Portuguese also called ), is a medium-sized zorro, or "false" fox, na ...

and

South American gray fox The South American gray fox (''Lycalopex griseus''), also known as the Patagonian fox, the chilla or the gray zorro, is a species of ''Lycalopex'', the "false" foxes. It is endemic to the southern part of South America. Description The South A ...

References

External links

* Ramirez, M. A., Prevosti, F. J.:
Systematic revision of ''"Canis" ensenadensis'' Ameghino, 1888 (Carnivora, Canidae) and the description of a new specimen from the Pleistocene of Argentina
, Ameghiniana 2014, vol. 51(1), pp. 37–51. URL last retrieved 2018-08-11. Dusicyon Pliocene mammals of South America Uquian Neogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Fossil taxa described in 1880 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino {{canid-extinct-stub