Canini (tribe)

Canini is a taxon which represents the dog-like tribe of the subfamily Caninae (the canines), and is sister to the fox-like tribe Vulpini. The Canini came into existence 9 million years ago. This group was first represented by Eucyon, mostly by Eucyon davisi that was spread widely across North America and is basal to the other members of the tribe. Its members are informally known as true dogs.

The critical features that mark the Canini as a monophyletic group include the consistent enlargement of the frontal sinus, often accompanied by the correlated loss of the depression in the dorsal surface of the postorbital process; the posterior expansion of the paroccipital process; the enlargement of the mastoid process; and the lack of lateral flare of the orbital border of the zygoma.

— Richard H. Tedford

Members of this tribe include:

Common names of most of the South American canines include "fox", based on resemblance, but they are more closely related to wolves than to vulpini, the Eurasian and North American foxes.

The cladogram below is based on the phylogeny of Lindblad-Toh et al. (2005), modified to incorporate recent findings on Canis species, Lycalopex species, and Dusicyon.