Aelurodon

Classification Aelurodon are a part of a clade of canids loosely known as "bone-crushing" or "hyena-like" dogs, that apparently descended from the earlier genera Protomarctus and Tomarctus. Evolution The earliest occurrence of the genus is A. asthenostylus dating from 16. This species then gives rise to two different anagenetic clades around 15 Ma. One comprises the species A. montaneis, A. mcgrewi and A. stirtoni, going extinct around 12 Ma. The other clade persists until and includes A. ferox and A. taxoides. A. taxoides is the most derived and largest species in Aelurodon. The evolution of Aelurodon is characterized by the progressive development of teeth adapted to a more hypercarnivorous diet, a trend consistent with other borophagines. == Description ==

A. taxoides was the largest species within the genus, Although geographically younger specimens in Nebraska may have shown evidence of a size reduction. A. ferox (the probable ancestor of A. taxoides) was much smaller, weighing . == Paleobiology ==

Social behavior The social behavior of Aelurodon and other borophagines has been debated by experts. Radinsky (1973) analyzed the endocast of borophagines and found an unexpanded prorean gyrus, which suggests borophagines didn’t form organized pack structures. However, Figueirido et al. (2015) recovered Aelurodon as an ambush predator, although one A. ferox specimen was recovered as a pounce predator. Their analysis also found that pursuit predation among canids emerged during the Pleistocene. Including supplementary materials Martín-Serra et al. (2016) noted that based on the forelimb morphology, the predatory behavior of the borophagines was not equivalent to any living species as they weren’t as specialized for grappling as ambush predators or as cursorial as pounce-pursuit and pursuit predators. ==References==