The dire wolf is an extinct canine. The dire wolf lived in the Americas during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs. The species was named in 1858, four years after the first specimen had been found. Two subspecies are recognized: Aenocyon dirus guildayi and Aenocyon dirus dirus. The largest collection of its fossils has been obtained from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
Miracinonyx is an extinct genus of felids belonging to the subfamily Felinae that was endemic to North America from the Pleistocene epoch and morphologically similar to the modern cheetah, although its apparent similar ecological niches have been considered questionable due to anatomical morphologies of the former that would have crippled any ability to run as fast. The genus was originally known from fragments of skeletons, but nearly complete skeletons have been recovered from Natural Trap Cave in northern Wyoming.
Megalonyx is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America. It evolved during the Pliocene Epoch and became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event at the end of the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene, living from ~5 million to ~13,000 years ago. The type species, M. jeffersonii, the youngest and largest known species, measured about 3 meters (9.8 ft) in length and weighed up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb).
Glyptotherium is a genus of glyptodont in the family Chlamyphoridae that lived from the Early Pliocene, about 3.6 million years ago, to the Late Pleistocene, around 15,000 years ago. It had a wide distribution, living in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Venezuela, and Brazil. The genus was first described in 1903 by American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn with the type species being, G. texanum, based on fossils that had been found in the Pliocene Blancan Beds in Llano Estacado, Texas, USA. Glyptotherium fossils have since been unearthed from many more fossil sites, from Florida to Colombia. Another species, G. cylindricum, was named in 1912 by fossil hunter Barnum Brown on the basis of a partial skeleton that had been unearthed from the Pleistocene deposits in Jalisco, Mexico. The two species differ in several aspects, including age, with G. texanum being from the older Early Pliocene to Early Pleistocene strata, whereas G. cylindricum is exclusive to the Late Pleistocene.
The Antilocapridae are a family of artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids. Only one species, the pronghorn, is living today; all other members of the family are extinct. The living pronghorn is a small ruminant mammal resembling an antelope.
Titanis is a genus of phorusrhacid, an extinct family of large, predatory birds, in the order Cariamiformes that inhabited the United States during the Pliocene and earliest Pleistocene. The first fossils were unearthed by amateur archaeologists Benjamin Waller and Robert Allen from the Santa Fe River in Florida and were named Titanis walleri by ornithologist Pierce Brodkorb in 1963, the species name honoring Waller. The holotype material is fragmentary, consisting of only an incomplete right tarsometatarsus and phalanx, but comes from one of the largest phorusrhacid individuals known. In the years following the description, many more isolated elements have been unearthed from sites from other areas of Florida, Texas, and California. It was classified in the subfamily Phorusrhacinae, which includes some of the last and largest phorusrhacids like Devincenzia and Kelenken.
Bison antiquus, the antique bison or ancient bison, is an extinct species of bison that lived in Late Pleistocene North America until around 10,000 years ago. It was one of the most common large herbivores on the North American continent during the late Pleistocene, and is a direct ancestor of the living American bison along with Bison occidentalis.
Bison latifrons, also known as the giant bison or long-horned bison, is an extinct species of bison that lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch ranging from Alaska to Mexico. It was the largest and heaviest bovid ever to live in North America. It thrived in North America for about 200,000 years, but became extinct some 20,000–30,000 years ago, at the beginning of the last glacial maximum.
The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,806,000 years BP, a period of 2.944 million years. It is usually considered to start in the early-mid Pliocene Epoch and end by the early Pleistocene. The Blancan is preceded by the Hemphillian and followed by the Irvingtonian NALMA stages.
Tremarctos floridanus, occasionally called the Florida spectacled bear, Florida cave bear, or rarely Florida short-faced bear, is an extinct species of bear in the family Ursidae, subfamily Tremarctinae. T. floridanus was widespread in the Southeastern United States during the Rancholabrean epoch, with scattered reports of fossils from other parts of North America and from earlier epochs.
Mount Blanco is a small white hill — an erosional remnant — located on the eastern border of the Llano Estacado within Blanco Canyon in Crosby County, Texas. With Blanco Canyon, it is the type locality of the early Pleistocene Blanco Formation of Texas and Kansas, as well as the Blancan fauna, which occurs throughout North America. Mount Blanco is a Late Blancan age site, and is associated with other Late Blancan sites from Texas such as Red Light and Hudspeth local faunas from Hudspeth County, and the Cita Canyon fauna from Randall County.
Arctodus is an extinct genus of short-faced bear that inhabited North America during the Pleistocene. There are two recognized species: the lesser short-faced bear and the giant short-faced bear. Of these species, A. simus was larger, is known from more complete remains, and is considered one of the most charismatic of North America's megafauna. A. pristinus was largely restricted to the Early Pleistocene of the eastern United States, whereas A. simus had a broader range, with most finds being from the Late Pleistocene of the United States, Mexico and Canada. A. simus evolved from A. pristinus, but both species likely overlapped in the Middle Pleistocene. Both species are relatively rare in the fossil record.
The Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from less than 240,000 years to 11,000 years BP, a period of 0.229 million years. Named after the famed Rancho La Brea fossil site in Los Angeles, California, the Rancholabrean is characterized by the presence of the genus Bison in a Pleistocene context, often in association with other extinct Pleistocene forms such as Mammuthus. The age is usually considered to overlap the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene epochs. The Rancholabrean is preceded by the Irvingtonian NALMA stage, and it is succeeded by the Santarosean age.
Canis edwardii, also known as Edward's wolf, is an extinct species of wolf in the genus Canis which was endemic to North America three million years ago from the Late Blancan stage of the Pliocene epoch and was extinct by the end of the Irvingtonian stage of the Pleistocene epoch.
Canis lepophagus is an extinct species of canid which was endemic to much of North America during the Early Pliocene. It is notable because its lineage is proposed to have led to both wolves and coyotes.
The Port Kennedy Bone Cave is a limestone cave in the Port Kennedy section of Valley Forge National Historical Park, Pennsylvania, USA. The Bone Cave "contained one of the most important middle Pleistocene fossil deposits in North America".
Hypolagus is an extinct genus of lagomorph, first recorded in the Hemingfordian of North America. It entered Asia during the early Turolian and spread to Europe not much later, where it survived until the Middle Pleistocene. Though unknown in the Iberian Peninsula, fossils of this genus have been found in the Balearic Islands, suggesting an eastern migration during the dry period in the Mediterranean region known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis.
A list of prehistoric and extinct species whose fossils have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits, located in present-day Hancock Park, a city park on the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire district in Los Angeles, California.
The Cuscatlán Formation is a geologic formation in El Salvador. It preserves fossils dating back to the Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene period.
Hydrochoerus hesperotiganites is an extinct species of capybara that lived in San Diego County, California, during the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene. It is currently the only known capybara of the genus Hydrochoerus found in North America. It was closely related to the modern Greater and Lesser Capybara.
