Protarctos is an extinct genus of basal ursine bear that lived in North America and Eurasia during the Pliocene and into Early Pleistocene.

[1] Although some paleontologists recognized the species of Protarctos as members of the genus Ursus, at least one phylogenetic analysis from Wang et al. 2017 found the genus to be an evolutionary grade outside the last common ancestor of the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) and the brown bear (U.

[1] However, there are some authors that feel all species Protarctos should be classified as subspecies or as junior synonyms of Ursus minimus.

While Protarctos has been recovered from Pliocene-aged formations in Europe and North America, the genus lasted longer in Asia from the Pliocene to early Pleistocene.

[2][1] Despite their primitive dental morphology in comparison with modern ursines, they still show evidence of moderate herbivory.