Lycophocyon is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of caniformia

Caniformia

Caniformia, or Canoidea , is a suborder within the order Carnivora. They typically possess a long snout and non-retractile claws . The Pinnipedia evolved from caniform ancestors and are accordingly assigned to this group...

n carnivora

Carnivora

The diverse order Carnivora |Latin]] carō "flesh", + vorāre "to devour") includes over 260 species of placental mammals. Its members are formally referred to as carnivorans, while the word "carnivore" can refer to any meat-eating animal...

n from Middle Eocene (early Duchesnean

Duchesnean

The Duchesnean North American Stage on the geologic timescale is a North American Land Mammal Age , with an age from 42 to 38 million years BP, representing . It falls within the Eocene epoch. The Duchesnean is preceded by the Uintan and followed by the Chadronian NALMA.The Duchesnean falls within...

 and possibly late Uintan

Uintan

The Uintan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology , typically set from 46,200,000 to 42,000,000 years BP lasting . It is usually considered to fall within the Eocene epoch...

 NALMA) deposits of San Diego County, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Lycophocyon is known from the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 UCMP  85202, a partial left and right dentary. Paratypes include UCMP 170713, SDSNH 107658, SDSNH 107659, SDSNH 107442, SDSNH 107443 and SDSNH 107444, partial dentaries, mandible

Mandible

The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

s and other cranial remains, and SDSNH 107446 and SDSNH 107447, cranial and postcrania

Postcrania

Postcrania[p] in zoology and vertebrate paleontology refers to all or part of the skeleton apart from the skull. Frequently, fossil remains, e.g...

l fragments. Many additional specimens are also known. All specimens were collected from numerous localities, all of them from the upper portions of "member C" of the Santiago Formation. It was first named by Susumu Tomiya in 2011

2011 in paleontology

-Lobopods:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Newly named jawless vertebrates:-Newly named acanthodian:-Newly named cartilaginous fishes:-Newly named bony fishes:-Newly named lepospondyls:-Newly named temnospondyls:-Newly named lissamphibians:...

 and the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Lycophocyon hutchisoni. The generic name means "twilight dog" in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

, in references to its occurrence on the west coast of North America, and its affinity to the Caniformia

Caniformia

Caniformia, or Canoidea , is a suborder within the order Carnivora. They typically possess a long snout and non-retractile claws . The Pinnipedia evolved from caniform ancestors and are accordingly assigned to this group...

. The specific name honours the paleontologist J. Howard Hutchison.

Phylogeny

The cladogram

Cladogram

A cladogram is a diagram used in cladistics which shows ancestral relations between organisms, to represent the evolutionary tree of life. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters, DNA and RNA sequencing data and computational...

 below follows the topology from a 2011 analysis by Susumu Tomiya.