Holiday Over

Back from the holiday (in the United States), we are going to end this canid filled week by trying to find a good image of Leptocyon. There are not many illustrations of Leptocyon. There are no well established reasons that there should be fewer Leptocyon illustrations than there are online, in books and magazines, or in museums. Most of the illustrations that are online that are labelled Leptocyon look like animals that are somewhere between cats and dogs in appearance. Many other interpretations make Leptocyon look like coyote or a fox. The image below, however, shows Roger Witter's interpretation of Leptocyon mollis, a species named in 1906 by Merriam but not officially listed in the genus, from the John Day Assemblage of Oregon. This interpretation looks more like a wolverine than it does a dog or a cat. It is an interesting interpretation of a very dog-like skull.

©Roger Witter