Plionarctos

Plionarctos; Temporal range: Late Miocene–Late Pliocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Subfamily:	Tremarctinae
Genus:	†Plionarctos; Frick, 1926
Type species
	†Plionarctos edensis; Frick, 1926
Species
	†P. harroldorum Tedford & Martin, 2001; †P. edensis Frick, 1926

Plionarctos is an extinct genus of bear endemic to North America from the Miocene to the Pliocene,^[2] ~10.3—3.3 Mya, existing for about 7 million years.

Indarctos (10.7—9.2 Mya) preceded Plionarctos by only a few thousand years and was a contemporary of that bear and shared its habitat. Plionarctos preceded and was also contemporary with Tremarctos floridanus (4.9 million — 11,000 years ago) and shared its habitat. Plionarctos is the oldest known genus within the subfamily of the short-faced bears (Tremarctinae), and is believed to be ancestral to the clade.

Fossil distribution[edit]

Sites and specimen ages:

Ile de Ratonneau Breccia, Provence, France about ~800,000—100,000 years ago ^{[citation needed]}
Fort Green Mine, Polk County, Florida paleontological sites about 10.3—4.9 Mya
Taunton site, Adams County, Washington (P. harroldorum) about 4.9—1.8 Mya (Plionarctos harroldorum)
Pipe Creek Sinkhole, Grant County, Indiana (P. edensis) about 10.3—1.8 Mya
Palmetto Mine, Polk County, Florida 7.9—7.8 Mya
Gray Fossil Site, Washington County, Tennessee about 7.0-4.5 Mya

References[edit]

^ Frick, Childs (1926). "The Hemicyoninæ and an American Tertiary Bear". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 56 (1): 111–119. hdl:2246/1321.
^ ^a ^b Tedford, Richard H.; Martin, James (2001). "Plionarctos, a tremarctine bear (Ursidae: Carnivora) from western North America". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 21 (2): 311–321. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0311:PATBUC]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 20061955. S2CID 130061851.

[1] Frick, Childs (1926). "The Hemicyoninæ and an American Tertiary Bear". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 56 (1): 111–119. hdl:2246/1321.

[Tedford2001-2] Tedford, Richard H.; Martin, James (2001). "Plionarctos, a tremarctine bear (Ursidae: Carnivora) from western North America". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 21 (2): 311–321. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0311:PATBUC]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 20061955. S2CID 130061851.

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