caniform

English

Some caniforms (clockwise from bottom left): South American coati, red panda, Sri Lankan jackal, black bear, striped skunk, yellow-throated marten

Etymology

From Latin canis (“dog”) + -form.

Adjective

caniform (not comparable)

1. Characteristic of, or relating to the Caniformia.

Noun

caniform (plural caniforms)

1. Any carnivore of the suborder Caniformia, which are regarded as dog-like.
   • 1997, Peter D. Ward, The Call of Distant Mammoths: Why the Ice Age Mammals Disappeared‎^[1], page 73:

     Modern carnivores appeared as well, diverging into the feliforms (cats, hyaenas, and mongooses) and caniforms (dogs, bears, raccoons, weasels, and seals).

   • 2011, John P. Rafferty, editor, The Cenozoic Era: Age of Mammals‎^[2], page 93:

     It is representative of a group of early carnivores, the miacids, that were the ancestors of modern caniforms: the canids (that is, the dogs, coyotes, wolves, foxes, and jackals) and a large group made up of the bear, raccoon, and weasel families.

   • 2013, Donald R. Prothero, Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology‎^[3], page 544:

     Some paleontologists argue that in fact they^{[extinct nimravids]} are closer to caniforms, while others place them as a distant relative of the feliforms.

Anagrams

• formican