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Prototocyon Temporal range: Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	†Prototocyon Pohle, 1928
Type species
†Prototocyon curvipalatus Bose, 1880
Species
P. curvipalatus P. recki
Synonyms
Sivacyon

Prototocyon is an extinct genus of small omnivorous canid that lived during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. It is closely related to the living bat-eared fox (Otocyon).

Taxonomy

Prototocyon was named by Pohle (1928) and was assigned to Canidae by Carroll (1988). Old literature relates it to Vulpes bengalensis, but not more modern literature (e.g. McKenna and Bell. A 2013 study stated that the genus "is only doubtfully distinct from Otocyon" the genus of the living bat-eared fox.

Description

Prototocyon was a small canine similar to the bat-eared fox in overall morphology and likely in habits as well. It differed from the modern bat-eared fox mainly in its more primitive dentition.

Fossil distribution

Fossil remains of P. curvipalatus were recovered from the early Pleistocene Upper Siwaliks horizon of the Siwalik Hills, India (Colbert 1935; Pilgrim 1932).

Fossils of P recki have been found in the Olduvai Gorge area of Tanzania.

References

1. Wang, Xiaoming; Tedford, Richard H.; Antón, Mauricio. Dogs: their fossil relatives and evolutionary history.
2. Carroll, R. L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company.
3. McKenna, M. C.; Bell, S. K. (1997). Classification of mammals above the species level. New York: Columbia University Press.
4. Gompper, Matthew E.; Vanak, Abi Tamim (9 August 2006). Mammalian Species No. 795, pp. 1–5, 3 figs. Vulpes bengalensis (PDF). American Society of Mammalogists. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-21.
5. Hartstone-Rose, Adam; Kuhn, Brian F.; Nalla, Shahed; Werdelin, Lars; Berger, Lee R. (February 2013). "A new species of fox from the Australopithecus sediba type locality, Malapa, South Africa". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 68 (1): 1–9. doi:10.1080/0035919X.2012.748698. ISSN 0035-919X.
6. ^ Werdelin, Lars; Sanders, William Joseph (2010). Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press. p. 612. ISBN 9780520257214.

• Vulpini
• Prehistoric canines
• Pleistocene carnivorans
• Pleistocene mammals of Asia
• Pleistocene mammals of Africa
• Fossil taxa described in 1880
• Fossil taxa described in 1928
• Prehistoric carnivoran genera