Plionarctos

Plionarctos Temporal range: Late Miocene–Late Pliocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Subfamily:	Tremarctinae
Genus:	†Plionarctos Frick, 1926[1]
Type species
†Plionarctos edensis Frick, 1926
Species
†P. harroldorum Tedford & Martin, 2001[2] †P. edensis Frick, 1926

Plionarctos is an extinct genus of bear endemic to North America from the Miocene to the Pliocene,^[2] ~10.3—3.3 Mya, existing for about 7 million years.

Indarctos (10.7—9.2 Mya) preceded Plionarctos by only a few thousand years and was a contemporary of that bear and shared its habitat. Plionarctos preceded and was also contemporary with Tremarctos floridanus (4.9 million — 11,000 years ago) and shared its habitat. Plionarctos is the oldest known genus within the subfamily of the short-faced bears (Tremarctinae), and is believed to be ancestral to the clade.

Sites and specimen ages:

• Ile de Ratonneau Breccia, Provence, France about ~800,000—100,000 years ago ^{[citation needed]}
• Fort Green Mine, Polk County, Florida paleontological sites about 10.3—4.9 Mya
• Taunton site, Adams County, Washington (P. harroldorum) about 4.9—1.8 Mya (Plionarctos harroldorum)
• Pipe Creek Sinkhole, Grant County, Indiana (P. edensis) about 10.3—1.8 Mya
• Palmetto Mine, Polk County, Florida 7.9—7.8 Mya
• Gray Fossil Site, Washington County, Tennessee about 7.0-4.5 Mya