Protarctos is an extinct genus of bear native to North America and Eurasia that lived during the Pliocene and the Pleistocene. Members of these genus are considered by some to be in the genus Ursus, although they were later found to be an evolutionary grade outside the last common ancestor the Tremarctos Ornatus, Ursus Americanus, and Ursus Arctos.
Species[]
There are four species in the genus Protarctos. One of which, Protarctos Boeckhi, survived into the Middle Pleistocene in Europe and Russia.
- Protarctos Abstrusus (Sugar Bear) (5.33-3.5 MYA) (Canada, Idaho) (Bjork, 1970)
- Protarctos Boeckhi (Boeckh's Bear) (5.33-0.126 MYA) (Europe) (Schlosser, 1899)
- Protarctos Ruscinensis (Monaco Bear) (5.33-1.8 MYA) (Monaco) (Deperet, 1890)
- Protarctos Yinanensis (Longdan Bear) (5.33-2.58 MYA) (China) (Yizheng, 1993)
Diet[]
Species in the genus Protarctos consumed things full of fermentable carbohydrates. These bears probably hibernated like species in the genus Ursus, not including Ursus Maritimus.