borophagine

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noun

Any extinct canid of the subfamily Borophaginae; a bone-crushing dog.

Scrabble 19

Meanings

nounborophagine (plural borophagines)

plural borophagines

  1. Any extinct canid of the subfamily Borophaginae; a bone-crushing dog.

    The arctoids and early borophagine canids are the hallmark of the North American Mid-Miocene epoch.

    1993, Frederick S. Szalay, Michael J. Novacek, Malcolm C. McKenna, Mammal Phylogeny: Placentals, Springer-Verlag, page 69
    2 more examples

    1989, Kathleen Munthe, The Skeleton of the Borophaginae (Carnivora, Canidae): Morphology and Function, Publications in Geological Sciences, Volume 133, University of California Press, page 66, Except in Borophagus and late Hemphillian Osteoborus, there is an entepicondylar foramen in borophagines, found in no living canid or hyaenid, but characteristic of felid humeri. In C. lupus and borophagines the lateral epicondyle bears two or more facets for the origin of the carpal and digital extensors and the supinator muscle.

    The history of the borophagines also begins with a small fox-like form, Archaeocyon, in the late Oligocene.

    2007, X. Wang, R. H. Tedford, “1: Evolutionary History of Canids”, in Per Jensen, editor, The Behavioural Biology of Dogs, CABI, page 10

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Cite this entry
APA

borophagine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borophagine

MLA

“borophagine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borophagine. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “borophagine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borophagine.

Source: borophagine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.