LATE TERTIARY CANIDS FROM CENTRAL MEXICO

Although relatively numerous accounts of late Tertiary canids have bee n reported from the western United States, records from Mexico are sca rce. The three genera and species described and discussed in this pape r come from Hemphillian and Blancan age deposits located in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. All specimens were collected within a stratigra phic context. One taxon, Borophagus diversidens. was recovered from Bl ancan age deposits, while both Osteoborus cyonoides and a new species of Canis, C. ferox, came front deposits of Hemphillian age. This new s pecies of Canis appears to be directly ancestral to the extinct C. lep ophagus, long considered the forerunner of the modern coyote, C. latra ns. The new Mexican canid also appears to be the earliest true Canis y et reported.