Urocyon

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Classis: Mammalia
Subclassis: Theria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Ordo: Carnivora
Subordo: Caniformia
Familia: Canidae
Genus: Urocyon
Species: U. cinereoargenteus - U. littoralis

Name

Urocyon Baird, 1857

Type species: Canis virginianus Schreber, 1775 (= Canis cinereo argenteus Schreber, 1775) by subsequent designation (Elliot, 1901; Melville and Smith, 1987).

References

* Mammals, In Repts. Expl. Surv., 8(1): 121, 138.
* Urocyon on Mammal Species of the World.
Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (editors). 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed).
* Urocyon, 1857 Report on ITIS

Vernacular names
Italiano: Volpe grigia
Українська: Сірі лисиці

Urocyon (from the Greek word for "tailed dog"[5]) is a genus of Canidae which includes the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and the island fox (Urocyon littoralis).[1] These two fox species are found in the Western Hemisphere. Whole genome sequencing indicates that Urocyon is the most basal genus of the living canids.[6] Fossils of what is believed to be the ancestor of the gray fox, Urocyon progressus, have been found in Kansas and date to the Upper Pliocene,[7] with some undescribed specimens dating even older.[8]

Extant species

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Urocyon cinereoargenteus	gray fox	Southern half of North America from southern Canada to the northern part of South America (Venezuela and Colombia), excluding the mountains of northwestern United States
	Urocyon littoralis	Island fox	Channel Islands (off the coast of Southern California)

Cozumel fox

The Cozumel fox is a critically endangered or extinct small gray fox found on the island of Cozumel, Mexico. The last reported sighting was in 2001, but surveys focusing on this species have not yet been carried out.[9] The Cozumel fox has not been scientifically described, is a dwarf form as is the island fox, but slightly larger being up to three-quarters the size of the gray fox. No skins or complete skulls of the Cozumel fox exist in any museum exhibitions, so scientists have mainly examined sub-fossils collected during archaeological excavations of Mayan civilizations who inhabited the island about 1500 to 500 years ago. Upon evaluating bones from about 12 adult individuals, scientists have concluded that the Cozumel fox is extremely small-- approximately 60-80% the body size of other mainland specimens. [10]It had been isolated on the island for at least 5,000 years, and probably far longer. This would indicate that the colonization of the island of Cozumel by Urocyon predates that of humans.[11]
Extinct species

Species name	Type specimen era and location[3]
U. citrinus	New species. Early Irvingtonian, Citris County, Florida.
U. galushai	New species. Late Blancan, San Simon Valley, Graham County, Arizona.
U. minicephalus	Martin, 1974. Late Irvingtonian, Sumter County, Florida.
U. progressus	Stevens, 1965. Early Blancan, Meade County, Kansas. A later review found that the material represents Urocyon, but because of the few fragments this species cannot be diagnosed.[3]
U. webbi	New species. Middle Hemphillian, Citrus County, Florida.

References

Wozencraft, W.C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 582–583. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
Baird, S. 1857. Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. vol.8(1):121, 138. Vulpinae
Tedford, Richard H.; Wang, Xiaoming; Taylor, Beryl E. (2009). "Phylogenetic systematics of the North American fossil Caninae (Carnivora: Canidae)" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 325: 1–218. doi:10.1206/574.1. hdl:2246/5999. S2CID 83594819.
Schreber, Johann Christian Daniel; Goldfuss, Georg August; Wagner, Andreas Johann (1774). Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. p. 361. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.67399.( The mammals in illustrations according to nature, with descriptions)
Urocyon.
Lindblad-Toh, K.; Wade, C.M.; Mikkelsen, T.S.; Karlsson, E.K.; Jaffe, D.B.; Kamal, M.; et al. (2005). "Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog". Nature. 438 (7069): 803–819. Bibcode:2005Natur.438..803L. doi:10.1038/nature04338. PMID 16341006.
Stevens, M.S. (1965). "A new species of Urocyon from the Upper Pliocene of Kansas". Journal of Mammalogy. 46 (2): 265–269. doi:10.2307/1377846. JSTOR 1377846.
Prevosti, F.J.; Rincóon, A.D. (2007). "A new fossil canid assemblage from the late Pleistocene of northern South America: The canids of the Inciarte asphalt pit (Zulia, Venezuela), fossil record and biogeography". J. Paleontol. 81 (5): 1053–1065. doi:10.1666/pleo05-143.1. S2CID 131259363.
Cuarón, Alfredo D.; Martinez-Morales, Miguel Angel; McFadden, Katherine W.; Valenzuela, David & Gompper, Matthew E. (2004). "The status of dwarf carnivores on Cozumel Island, Mexico". Biodiversity and Conservation. 13 (2): 317–331. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.511.2040. doi:10.1023/B:BIOC.0000006501.80472.cc. S2CID 25730672.
Gompper, M. E.; Petrites, A. E.; Lyman, R. L. (2006). "Cozumel Island fox (Urocyon sp.) dwarfism and possible divergence history based on subfossil bones". Journal of Zoology. 270 (1): 72–77. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00119.x. ISSN 1469-7998.
Gompper, M. E.; Petrites, A. E. & Lyman, R. L. (2006). "Cozumel Island fox (Urocyon sp.) dwarfism and possible divergence history based on subfossil bones". J. Zool. 270 (1): 72–77. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00119.x.