FAMILY AND SUBFAMILY NAMES are given in this glossary, but genus and species names are not included (for the latter, see the appendix and the index).
AMPHICYONIDS Common name for the family Amphicyonidae, a group of extinct carnivorans best known for their possession of both doglike and bearlike characters; although commonly called bear dogs, amphicyonids are neither bears (ursids) nor dogs (canids).
ANAGENETIC CHANGE (ANAGENESIS) The progression of evolution in which a lineage does not branch into different lineages, in contrast to cladogenetic change, in which the lineage branches into two or more lineages.
ARCTOIDS Common name for the suborder Arctoidea, a diverse group of extinct and extant carnivorans that includes the dog family (Canidae), the bear family (Ursidae), aquatic carnivorans (Pinnipedia), the raccoon family (Procyonidae), the skunk family (Mephitidae), and the weasel family (Mustelidae).
ARTIODACTYLS Common name for the order Artiodactyla, a diverse group of herbivorous mammals with an even number of hoofs, such as pigs, camels, deer, sheep, and cows.
AUDITORY BULLA Bony enclosure in the mammalian ear region that protects the delicate ear bones (auditory ossicles).
AUDITORY OSSICLES Three tiny bones (malleus, incus, and stapes) in the ears of mammals that transmit sound waves from the eardrum to the inner-ear nerves.
BIFURCATING PROCESS See CLADOGENETIC CHANGE.
BORHYAENIDS Common name for the family Borhyaenidae, a group of marsupial carnivores in the Miocene of South America.
BOROPHAGINES Common name for the subfamily Borophaginae, a diverse group of extinct North American canids in the early Oligocene to the Pliocene.
BUNODONT Form of dental pattern in which individual cusps are rounded and low crowned; bunodont teeth are often associated with an omnivorous diet.
CANIDS Common name for the family Canidae, a group of carnivorans that includes the living wolves, foxes, coyotes, raccoon dogs, jackals, and hunting dogs, as well as their fossil relatives; canids have a worldwide distribution and their fossil ancestors date back to the late Eocene (more than 40 Ma).
CANIFORMS Doglike carnivorans that include miacids, canids, amphicyonids, and arctoids; caniforms tend to have a primitively complete set of cheek teeth in contrast to the more reduced dental patterns in feliforms.
CANINES Common name for the subfamily Caninae, a diverse group of extinct and extant canids from the early Oligocene to the present time; canines evolved in North America and migrated to Eurasia in the late Miocene and to South America in the Pliocene.
CANINE TOOTH Mammalian tooth positioned between incisors and premolars; commonly long and sharp, canines are usually used as weapons by carnivorans.
CARNASSIALS Pair of shearing teeth for processing meat formed by the upper fourth premolar and the lower first molar; all carnivorans possess a pair of carnassial teeth.
CARNIVORANS Common name for the order Carnivora, a group of mammals that includes the living dogs, cats, raccoons, weasels, skunks, pandas, bears, and other lesser-known predators; most members of this order are predators and are defined by their possession of a pair of shearing teeth known as carnassials, made up of the upper fourth premolar and the lower first molar.
CARNIVORES Animals that consume meat as their primary diet. Carnivores may or may not be members of the order Carnivora (or carnivorans) because some carnivorans are not meat eaters (such as the pandas) and some carnivores (such as hyaenodonts) are not carnivorans.
CENOZOIC Geologic time period dominated by mammals that spans from 65 Ma to the present.
CERDOCYONINES Common name for the subtribe Cerdocyonina, a group that includes the extant South American canids and their extinct relatives, some of which also lived in North America; cerdocyonines include various zorros, the maned wolf, and the bush dog.
CHARACTERS Features in organisms that are used to study their genealogical relationships (for example, a large ear is a character for the fennec fox).
CIMOLESTIDS Group of Mesozoic mammals that may be distantly related to carnivorans.
CLADE Group of organisms with a common ancestor, often equal to a monophyletic group.
CLADISTICS Scientific method to deduce phylogenetic relationships by searching for derived characters common to a subset of organisms.
CLADOGENETIC CHANGE (CLADOGENESIS) The progression of evolution in which a lineage branches into two or more lineages, in contrast to anagenetic change, in which no branching occurs.
CLADOGRAM Branched diagram of relationships based on the hypothesis of shared derived characters.
CONSERVATIVE The tendency to retain ancestral conditions within a lineage.
CONVERGENCE Evolutionary changes by independent lineages that result in similar appearances.
CREODONTS Common name for the order Creodonta, a group of extinct predators mostly from the Paleogene that were eventually superseded by members of the Carnivora.
CRETACEOUS Geologic time period that spans 145 to 65 Ma.
CURSORIALITY (CURSORIAL) The ability to run fast and for a sustained period of time.
DIGITIGRADE Standing posture in which the proximal parts of the hands and feet are lifted above the ground so that the animal stands on the digits.
ECTOTYMPANIC BONE Portion of the auditory bulla that serves as the attachment site for the eardrum.
ENAMEL The hard, white, shiny substance that coats the outer surface of mammalian teeth.
ENDEMIC Organisms are referred as endemic if their natural distribution is restricted to a particular place or region.
ENTOTYMPANIC BONE Portion of the auditory bulla that often forms the main chamber wall of the auditory bulla in carnivorans.
EOCENE Geologic time period that spans 55 to 34 Ma.
FELIFORMS Catlike carnivorans that include viverravids, nimravids (archaic saber-toothed animals), felids, hyaenids, viverrids, and herpestids; feliforms tend to have a reduced set of cheek teeth, in contrast to the more complete dental patterns in caniforms.
FRONTAL SINUS Air space within the frontal bone, a character that has been repeatedly developed in various lineages of carnivorans.
HESPEROCYONINES Common name for the subfamily Hesperocyoninae, a group of extinct North American canids from the late Eocene to the middle Miocene.
HOMOLOGY Shared features among organisms that are due to their inheritance of these features from their common ancestor.
HYAENIDS Common name for the family Hyaenidae, a group of carnivorans that includes the extant hyenas and aardwolves as well as their extinct relatives; hyaenids have lived in Eurasia, Africa, and North America from the Miocene to the present.
HYAENODONTS Common name for the family Hyaenodontidae in the order Creodonta, a group of extinct dominant carnivores from the Paleogene to part of the Neogene.
HYPERCARNIVORY (HYPERCARNIVOROUS) Dental adaptations toward efficient processing of meat, commonly involving sharp blades in the carnassial teeth for cutting flesh and tendons.
HYPOCARNIVORY (HYPOCARNIVOROUS) Dental adaptations toward a more generalized feeding (deemphasis of meat eating), commonly involving increased grinding areas in the posterior cheek teeth.
HYPOTHETICAL-DEDUCTIVE METHOD The scientific philosophy that emphasizes the formulation of hypotheses and their logical corollaries as a primary means to advance science.
HYPSODONTY Vertically elongated enamel surface (known as crown height) on the cheek teeth of herbivores; hypsodont teeth generally indicate a diet that contains tough fibers in vegetation (often grasses).
INCISOR Frontmost row of teeth in mammals adjacent to the canines; incisors in carnivorans are often simple and chisel shaped.
INTERNAL CAROTID ARTERY Small artery that goes through the auditory bulla and often forms the main supply of blood to the brain in carnivorans.
MESOCARNIVORY (MESOCARNIVOROUS) Unspecialized teeth in carnivorans that are intermediate between the hypercarnivorous and hypocarnivorous extremes.
MESONYCHIDS Common name for the family Mesonychidae, a group of extinct mammals from the Paleogene, some of which evolved predatory features similar to those of later carnivorans.
MESOZOIC Geologic time period dominated by dinosaurs and other reptiles that spans 250 to 65 Ma.
MIACIDS Common name for the archaic family Miacidae, a group of extinct caniform carnivorans from the Paleogene.
MIDDLE EAR Region of the mammalian ear anatomy enclosed within the auditory bulla.
MIOCENE Geologic time period that spans 24 to 5 Ma.
MOLARS Permanent cheek teeth near the back of the jaws in mammals; molars are not replaced during life (that is, there is no milk tooth precursor, as there is for the premolar).
MONOPHYLY Natural group of organisms that includes their common ancestors as well as all their descendants.
MUSTELIDS Common name for the family Mustelidae, a group of arctoid carnivorans that includes the extant weasels, badgers, otters, martens, wolverines, and their extinct relatives.
NEOGENE Geologic time period that includes the Miocene through the Pliocene (24 to 1.8 Ma).
OLIGOCENE Geologic time period that spans 34 to 24 Ma.
OMNIVORES Animals that consume a wide variety of food instead of concentrating on a single source of food, such as meat or vegetation, as their primary diets.
PALEOCENE Geologic time period that spans 65 to 55 Ma.
PALEOGENE Geologic time period that includes the Paleocene through the Oligocene (65 to 24 Ma).
PARSIMONY The scientific methodology for choosing the simplest (the most parsimonious) hypothesis when faced with multiple alternative hypotheses; also known as “Ockham’s razor,” after the fourteenth-century English philosopher and Franciscan friar William of Ockham.
PHYLOGENETIC SYSTEMATICS Studies of organismal classification and taxonomy based on the organisms’ genealogical relationships.
PHYLOGENY Genealogical relationships that attempt to reconstruct historical relationships among various lineages of organisms.
PLANTIGRADE Standing posture in which the entire hand and foot touch the ground and weight is mostly spread on the palm of the hand and the heel of the foot.
PLATE TECTONICS The study of large-scale configuration and movement of earth’s lithosphere (continents and seas).
PLEISTOCENE Geologic time period that spans 1.8 to 0.01 Ma, also popularly known as the Ice Age.
PLIOCENE Geologic time period that spans 5 to 1.8 Ma.
PREMOLARS Cheek teeth near the front of the jaws in mammals; premolars consist of deciduous (milk) premolars and permanent premolars that replace the deciduous teeth during life.
PROCYONIDS Common name for the family Procyonidae, a group of arctoid carnivorans that includes the extant raccoons, kinkajous, ring tails, coatis, and olingos, as well as their extinct relatives.
RADIATION The rapid expansion of diversity within a group of organisms, often in response to environmental changes or new resources.
RANCHO LA BREA A series of tar pits in Hancock Park in the city of Los Angeles that has preserved one of the richest late Pleistocene mammal fauna in the world, including the highest concentration of dire wolves.
SELENODONT Form of dental pattern often seen in the even-hoofed mammals (artiodactyls), in which crescent-shaped ridges are repeated; selenodont teeth are often associated with an herbivorous diet.
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM The differential development of a morphological feature by males and females in the same species; markedly dimorphic features in some carnivorans include the size of the body and the length of the canine teeth.
STRATIGRAPHY Geologic study of rocks according to their relative positions (for example, upper strata are younger than lower strata).
TALONIDS Rear half of the lower cheek teeth (premolars and molars); in carnivorans, talonids often serve as a grinding part of the dentition.
TERRESTRIAL Attributes related to living on solid ground (as opposed to, for example, aquatic, or on the water).
THYLACINIDS Group of Australian marsupial predators that includes the recently extinct Tasmanian wolf.
UNGULIGRADE Standing posture in many mammalian herbivores, such as horses, in which the entire hand and foot are lifted above ground, and the animals stand on the tip of their fingers and toes.
URSIDS Common name for the family Ursidae, a group of arctoid carnivorans that includes the extant bears and pandas as well as their extinct relatives.
VERTEBRATES Common name for the phylum or subphylum Vertebrata, which includes all animals with a backbone (vertebral column).
VIVERRAVIDS Common name for the archaic family Viverravidae, a group of extinct feliform carnivorans from the Paleogene that have a reduced set of cheek teeth.
ZOOGEOGRAPHY The study of animal distribution, dispersal, and migration.