Cephalogale

Cephalogale Temporal range: late Oligocene–Miocene PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Superfamily:	Arctoidea
Family:	Ursidae
Subfamily:	†Hemicyoninae
Genus:	Cephalogale Jourdan, 1862
Type species
†Cephalogale geoffroyi Jourdan, 1862
Species
†C. shareri (Wang, et al., 2009) †C. gergoviensis (Viret, 1929) †C. ginesticus (Kuss, 1962) †C. geoffroyi (Jourdan, 1862)

Cephalogale is an extinct early genus of the family Ursidae which appeared in the late Oligocene through Miocene epochs, endemic to North America and Europe living from around 33.9—20 Mya, existing for about 33.9-20 million years.

Before it was reconsidered to be close to the ancestry of hemicyonids, Cephalogale was once considered to be an ancestor of all bears.^[1]

Taxonomy

Cephalogale was named by Henri Filhol in 1879. Its type is Cephalogale geoffroyi. It was assigned to Ursidae by Carroll (1988); to Hemicyoninae by Hunt (1998); and to Ursoidea by Wang et al. (2005).^[2][3]

Fossil distribution

• Dětaň, Czech Republic about 33.9—28.4 Mya
• Cetina de Aragon, Spain about 22.4—20 Mya
• Standing Rock Quarry, Zia Sand Formation, Sandoval County, New Mexico about 24.8—20.6 Mya
• Agate Springs Quarries, Sioux County, Nebraska about 23—5.3 Mya
• Hemingford Quarry 12D, Runningwater Formation, Box Butte County, Nebraska about 20.6—16.3 Mya

References

1. McLellan B. & Reiner D. C. (1994). "A review of bear evolution". Int. Conf. Bear Res. and Manage. 9(1): 85-89. PDF
2. R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York 1-698
3. X. Wang, M. C. McKenna, and D. Dashzeveg. 2005. Amphicticeps and Amphicynodon (Arctoidea, Carnivora) from Hsanda Gol Formation, Central Mongolia and phylogeny of basal arctoids with comments on zoogeography. American Museum Novitates 3483:1-57