#daphoenus

[mesozoicmarket]

A fossilized partial jaw of a Daphoenus sp. from the Brule Formation in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. Known as bear-dogs, amphicyonids like Daphoenus were basal caniforms related to bears, dogs, and other animals in the clade.

[veloci-raptor]

Fossil Novembirb: Day 8

Bathornis veredus and Daphoenus fight over a dead Mesohippus

[earthstory]

palaeoart

This piece has taken around 3yrs on and off to get finished but I finally managed to finish it this weekend. This is the skull and partial skeleton of a 30 million year old Amphicyon “bear-dog” from the White River Formation of South Dakota. I believe this particular specimen to be from Daphoenus superbus - a wolf-size carnivore - and from the natural wear on the teeth, this was a mature adult. Present in the block was a nicely preserved skull, many associated cervical vertebrae along with both humerus and a scapula. This was a labour of love but I’m really pleased how it’s turned out. I’m often asked which tools I used for this so the bulk matrix removal was done using a Paleotool ME-9100 and the finishing prep work and finer detail was done using a ZPT Microraptor from

@zoicpalaeotech

[alphynix]

Time for some more recent commissions from PBS Eons!

The hyainailourids Megistotherium osteothastes and Hyainailouros napakensis, from "When Giant Hypercarnivores Prowled Africa" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2nvNxAuk4

The bear-dogs Daphoenus demilo and Amphicyon giganteus, from "The Forgotten Story of the Beardogs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbmLqrnxH2w

The early panda Ailuropoda microta, from "The Fuzzy Origins of the Giant Panda" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2DbShys9ww

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Nix Illustration | Tumblr | Pillowfort | Twitter | Patreon

[earthstory]

palaeoart Today I finally got to finish the preparation of this beautifully preserved 30 million year old Daphoenus skull from the White River Formation of South Dakota. Although it’s only the upper skull, the teeth (especially those large canines) are in near perfect condition. Daphoenus is part of the Bear Dog family (Amphicyons) which sadly have no living descendants. Bear Dogs, as they sound, showed similar skeletal adaptations to both early dogs 🐶 as well as bears 🐻 - especially as they walked with plantigrade feet (walking with Metatarsals touching the ground), just like Bears do. Very happy with this final specimen