Indarctos

Indarctos is an extinct genus of bear, endemic to North America, Europe and Asia during the Miocene. It was present from ~11.1 to 5.3 Ma, existing for approximately 6.2 million years.

Indarctos
Temporal range: Miocene
I. atticus skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Subfamily: Ailuropodinae
Tribe: †Indarctini
Abella et al., 2012
Genus: †Indarctos
Pilgrim, 1913
Type species
†Indarctos salmontanus
Pilgrim, 1913
Species

†I. punjabensis (Lydekker, 1884)
†I. zdanskyi (Qiu & Tedford, 2003)[1]
†I. sinensis (Zdansky, 1924)
†I. vireti (Villalta & Crusafont, 1943)
†I. arctoides (Deperet, 1895)
†I. anthracitis (Weithofer, 1888)
†I. salmontanus (Pilgrim, 1913)
†I. atticus (Weithofer, 1888)
†I. bakalovi (Kovachev, 1988)
†I. lagrelli (Zdansky, 1924)
†I. oregonensis (Merriam et al., 1916)
†I. nevadensis (Macdonald, 1959)[2]

The oldest member is from Arizona (~11.1—7.7 Ma) and youngest is (~9.0—5.3 Ma) from Kazakhstan. In North America this animal was contemporary with Plionarctos (~10.3—3.3 Ma).

Fossil distribution

Some sites and specimen ages:

  • Box T Site, Lipscomb County, Texas ~9.3—9.2 Ma.
  • Rattlesnake site, Grant County, Oregon ~10.3—4.9 Ma.
  • Withlacoochee River Site 4A, Marion County, Florida (Indarctos sp.) ~10.3—4.9 Ma.
  • Lufeng, Yunnan, China (I. atticus) ~9—5.3 Ma.
  • Yulafli (CY), Thrace, Turkey (I. arctoides) ~9.7—8.7 Ma.
  • Batallones-3, Madrid Basin, Spain (I. arctoides) ~11.6—5.3 Ma.[3][4]

References
  1. Qiu, Zhan-Xiang; Tedford, R. H. (2003). "Shānxī bǎo dé yìndù xióngyīxīn zhǒng" 山西保德印度熊一新种 [A New Species of *Indarctos* from Baode, China] (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 41 (4): 278–288.
  2. MacDonald, J. R. (1959). "The Middle Pliocene Mammalian Fauna from Smiths Valley, Nevada". Journal of Paleontology. 33 (5): 872–887. JSTOR 1300922.
  3. Batallones-3 site
  4. Abella J, Valenciano A, Pérez-Ramos A, Montoya P, Morales J (2013) On the Socio-Sexual Behaviour of the Extinct Ursid Indarctos arctoides: An Approach Based on Its Baculum Size and Morphology. PLoS ONE 8(9): e73711. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073711
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