Dukecynus

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. 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. Compared to other basal borhyaenoids, Dukecynus had a long, narrow snout and was relatively large, with some estimates suggesting this animal weighed up to . Dukecynus was probably the largest mammalian predator as well as the largest sparassodont at La Venta. == References ==