Daphoenus

Daphoenus is an extinct genus of amphicyonids, a group colloquially known as "bear-dogs". It includes not just some of the best preserved material out of any amphicyonid, but also the earliest members of the family, first appearing in the middle Eocene and surviving into the Early Oligocene. The members of the genus are rather small compared to some of its later relatives, such as Amphicyon or Ysengrinia, ranging in size from comparable to a house cat to a small wolf. It was widely distributed across North America, with most of its remains being discovered in the White River Group of the Great Plains, though the John Day Beds of Oregon and the Cypress Hills Formation in Saskatchewan also represent important fossil sites. Other specimens have been described from localities in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and California.

== Taxonomy == left|thumb|Portrait of Joseph Leidy, who first described Daphoenus in 1853 The first fossils of Daphoenus vetus were collected by John Evans in 1849, before they were described by Joseph Leidy in 1853, making them among the first White River mammals to be named. One year later, however, Leidy synonymized his newly erected genus with Amphicyon, though it was later resurrected by Scott in 1898. Hough considered their body shape to be more feline than canine. Two decades after the description of D. vetus, the smaller D. hartshornianus was named by Edward Drinker Cope on the basis of fossils he discovered in Cedar Creek, Colorado. Originally, the various species of the genus were considered to be primitive members of the Canidae. It is the most common genus of North American amphicyonids, with over sixty skulls, various rostra, and a number of postcranial skeletons having been discovered.