The first humans crossed the Bering Strait to North America with dogs around 14,000 years ago.
There were doglike canid species who hunted the Americas before the predatory canines arrived. Paleontologists at the San Diego Natural History Museum recently discovered a rare and nearly complete fossil skeleton of a long extinct species.
The fossil was found in two large chunks of sandstone and mudstone during a construction project in San Diego County. The fossil is thought to be 24 million to 28 million years old.
The curator of paleontology at the San Diego museum, Tom Dem, has been a beneficiary of the discovery.
The Archeocyons fossil will help the paleo team fill in the blanks on what they know about the ancient dog mammals that lived in the area we now know as San Diego tens of millions of years ago.
Did they walk on their toes? Did they live in trees or in the ground? What were the animals that preyed on them? What did they think about extinct doglike species that came before them? Is this a new undiscovered species? The new fossil is giving scientists a few more pieces of an incomplete evolutionary puzzle.
Linn spent nearly 120 hours from December to February partially uncovering the fragile, and in some places, he found a tree branch. I used a lot of patience and glue.
In the Pacific Northwest and Great Plains states, Archeocyons fossils have been found, but not in Southern California, where glaciers and plate tectonics have scattered, destroyed and buried many fossils from that period of history. A California law that requires paleontologists to be at major construction projects to spot and protect potential fossils is the main reason this Archeocyons fossil was found and made its way to the museum.
The San Diego Natural History Museum's paleo monitor, Pat Sena, saw what looked like tiny white fragments of bone in the Otay project three years ago. After marking the rocks with a black Sharpie marker, he moved them to the museum, where scientific work stopped for nearly two years because of the Pandemic.
Linn began work on the two large rocks using small tools and brushes to slowly remove the layers of stone.
Linn said the picture got clearer when he uncovered a new bone.
After the cheekbone and teeth emerged from the rock, it became clear that it was an ancient canid species. The discovery of a new saber-toothed catlike predator, Diegoaelurus, was made by three international paleontologists in March. omnivorous canids used to have flatter teeth in the back of their mouths that they used to crush plants, seeds and berries. The mix of teeth and skull helped identify the fossil as an Archeocyons.
The new fossil has a portion of its long tail. The skull, teeth, spine, legs, and toes of the animal are complete, providing a wealth of information on the evolutionary changes of the Archeocyons.
The ankle bones that connected the Archeocyons to the Achilles are long, which suggests they adapted to chase their prey long distances. It is believed that its strong, muscular tail may have been used for balance while running. From its feet, there are indications that it could have lived in trees.
The Archeocyons were large and had long legs and a small head. It had nonretractable claws and walked on its toes. The Hesperocyons, which were smaller, longer, had shorter legs and resembled modern-day weasels, were different from its foxlike body shape.
There is a large exhibit on the first floor of the museum that features fossils and a large mural of animals that lived in San Diego during ancient times. The Archeocyons may have looked like a foxlike creature, which is depicted in the mural painted by William Stout.
Linn stopped work on the Archeocyons fossil after it was partially identified in February. He did not want to risk any damage to the skull until it could be further studied by a renowned researcher.
Nothing makes a curator happier than having researchers visit the collection. A nearly complete skeleton like this can answer a lot of questions.
The San Diego Union-Tribune.
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