Parictis

• North America

Parictis is an extinct genus of canine predators ( Canoidea ) and the oldest known representative in the line of development of the bears ( Ursidae ). Compared to recent bear he was small, his skull measured 7 cm and he weighed about 2 kg. He had a bear- like teeth with the exception of the missing M3, robust premolars and broad, relatively flat molars with large ruts. Parictis stepped in front of about 38 million years ago during the late Eocene in North America and is a close relative of the Amphicyonidae. There are suspicions that Parictis during the low sea level stand in front of 37 million years from Asia immigrated to North America, as the evolutionary development of the Amphicyonidae towards the Hemicyoninae in Asia Cephalogale and Ursavus be attributed. But so far no Parictis fossils in East Asia were occupied. Parictis reached Eurasia and Africa, but not before the Miocene.

Parictis 1893 described by William Berryman Scott first scientifically based on cheeks and jaw bone from the John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon. Its systematic position within the Canoidea is not entirely clear because of the still scanty fossil record.

Known types

• Dakotensis P. Clark, 1936
• P. gilpini Clark & ​​Guensburg, 1972
• P. major Clark & ​​Guensburg, 1972
• P. montanus Clark & ​​Guensburg, 1972
• P. parvus Clark & ​​Beerbower, 1967
• P. personified Chaffee, 1954
• Primaevus P., Scott, 1893

Formerly classified Parictis

• P. bathygenus White 1947 is no more than a Parictis type considered, but is now the Amphicyonidae ( "bear dog " ) is assigned.