Epicyon ("more than a dog") is a large, extinct, canid genus of the subfamily Borophaginae ("bone-crushing dogs"), native to North America. Epicyon existed for about 15 million years from the Hemingfordian age of the Early Miocene to the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene.[2]
Epicyon was about 1.5 m (5 ft) long, and is estimated to have had a weight of 91–136 kg (200–300 lb) in the largest species, E. haydeni.[citation needed] Epicyon had a massive head and powerful jaws, giving its skull a lion -like shape rather than having a skull similar in shape to that of a wolf. It is one of, if not the largest, known genus of canid. It was well adapted for bone-crushing, with enlarged fourth premolars like some hyenas. This adaptation would have allowed Epicyon to scavenge as well as hunt, giving it access to the nutritious marrow other contemporary carnivores couldn't access.[3]
Epicyon was one of the last of the Borophaginae, and shared its North American habitat with several other canids, including:
Epicyon was first named by Joseph Leidy in 1858 as a subgenus of Canis. It was also mentioned as belonging to the Aelurodontina by Matthew and Stirton in 1930. Later studies indicates that it was not a species of Canis, but a borophagine.
Fossil specimens range from Florida to Alberta, Canada to California; from Nebraska, and Kansas to New Mexico and Texas.
In North America, in places such as Coffee Ranch in Texas, Epicyon shared territory with the bear Agriotherium and the feliform Barbourofelis, machairodont cat Amphimachairodus coloradensis, and fellow canid Borophagus. All of these animals were potential competitors that would have occasionally conflicted with Epicyon for food and territory. Prey for Epicyon included herbivores such as the camel Aepycamelus, the pronghorn Cosoryx, horses such as Neohipparion and Nannippus, the peccary Prosthennops, and the rhinoceroses such as Teleoceras, all of which could provide a suitable meal through hunting or scavenging.[5][6]