Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Jul;94(7):575-80.
doi: 10.1007/s00114-007-0230-6. Epub 2007 Mar 15.

The oldest African fox (Vulpes riffautae n. sp., Canidae, Carnivora) recovered in late Miocene deposits of the Djurab desert, Chad

Louis de Bonis  1 , Stéphane Peigné, Andossa Likius, Hassane Taïsso Mackaye, Patrick Vignaud, Michel Brunet
Affiliations

The oldest African fox (Vulpes riffautae n. sp., Canidae, Carnivora) recovered in late Miocene deposits of the Djurab desert, Chad

Louis de Bonis et al. Naturwissenschaften. 2007 Jul.

Abstract

We report on the oldest fox (Canidae) ever found in Africa. It is dated to 7 Ma based on the degree of evolution of the whole fauna. It belongs to a new species. Its overall size and some morphological characteristics distinguish the Chadian specimen from all the other foxes. The presence of Vulpes and of the genus Eucyon in slightly younger African locality, as well as in southwestern Europe in the late Miocene, may indicate that canids migrated in Europe from Africa through a trans-Mediterranean route.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Nature. 2002 Jul 11;418(6894):152-5 - PubMed
    1. Nature. 2002 Jul 11;418(6894):145-51 - PubMed
    1. Science. 2006 Feb 10;311(5762):821 - PubMed
    1. Naturwissenschaften. 2005 Jun;92(6):287-92 - PubMed
    1. J Hum Evol. 2002 Jan-Feb;42(1-2):117-40 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources