Dukecynus is an extinct genus of meat-eating metatherian belonging to the order Sparassodonta, which lived in South America during the Middle Miocene (Laventan), between about 13.8 and 11.8 million years ago.[1] The name of the genus meaning "Duke dog", for Duke University and the Greek word cynos, dog, for the pretended similarity of this animal with dogs. A single species known so far, Dukecynus magnus. The species name "magnus" derives from Latin for big, to reflect their great size.
Dukecynus is only known from its holotype, IGM 251149, a heavily damaged partial skull preserving parts of the lower and upper jaw as well as associated fragments of the skeleton.[1] This specimen was discovered at the Konzentrat-LagerstätteLa Venta in the Honda Group, Huila and Tolima in Colombia. A second fragmentary specimen from La Venta, cataloged as UCMP 39250, consisting of a fragmentary skull and parts of the humerus and femur from a juvenile individual, referred to "cf. Arctodictis" by Marshall (1978) could also belong to Dukecynus or a similar species.[1][2] Although the affinities of this species have never been formally analysed, Dukecynus is generally considered to be a basal borhyaenoid, a paraphyletic group of sparassodonts that includes genera like Lycopsis and Prothylacynus that cannot be assigned to one of the major borhyaenoid families like Borhyaenidae or Thylacosmilidae.[3] Compared to other basal borhyaenoids, Dukecynus had a long, narrow snout and was relatively large, with some estimates suggesting this animal weighed up to 68 kilograms (150lb).[4]Dukecynus was probably the largest mammalian predator as well as the largest sparassodont at La Venta.
References
1 2 3 Goin, F. J. 1997 New clues for understanding Neogene marsupial radiations. In A history of the neotropical fauna. Vertebrate paleobiology of the Miocene in Colombia (ed. R. F. Kay, R. H. Maden, R. L. Cifelli & J. Flynn), pp. 185–204. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
↑ Marshall, L. Evolution of the Borhyaenidae, extinct South American predaceous marsupials. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
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