Ailurarctos ("cat bear") is an extinct genus of panda from the Late Miocene of China, some 8 million years ago.[1][2][3][4]
| Ailurarctos Temporal range: Late Miocene
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| Paleoart of Ailurarctos | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Tribe: | Ailuropodini |
| Genus: | †Ailurarctos Qi et al., 1989 |
| Type species | |
| †Ailurarctos lufengensis Qi et al., 1989
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| Species | |
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†A. lufengensis Qi et al., 1989 | |
Different teeth structures in the Ailuropoda lineage indicate a mosaic evolution during the past 2 million years.[5] Like modern giant pandas, Ailurarctos had a false thumb that allowed it to grip bamboo, suggesting that the panda's specialized bamboo diet goes back to as early as 6 to 7 million years ago.[6]
References
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- ^ Qiu, Zhangxiang; Qi, Guoqin (1989). "Yúnnán lù fēng wǎn zhōng xīn shì de dà xióngmāo zǔxiān huàshí" 云南禄丰晚中新世的大熊猫祖先化石 [Ailuropod Found From the Late Miocene Deposits in Lufeng, Yunnan] (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 27 (3): 153–169.
- ^ "A Picture of Giant Panda's Evolutionary History and Fossil Evidences". China Giant Panda Museum. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ Jin C, Ciochon RL, Dong W, Hunt RM, Liu J, Jaeger M, Zhu Q (June 2007). "The first skull of the earliest giant panda" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 104 (26): 10932–7. Bibcode:2007PNAS..10410932J. doi:10.1073/pnas.0704198104. PMC 1904166. PMID 17578912.
- ^ Abella J, Alba DM, Robles JM, Valenciano A, Rotgers C, Carmona R, Montoya P, Morales J (2012-11-14). "Kretzoiarctos gen. nov., the oldest member of the giant panda clade". PLOS ONE. 7 (11): e48985. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...748985A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048985. PMC 3498366. PMID 23155439.
- ^ Figueirido B, Palmqvist P, Pérez-Claros JA, Dong W (February 2011). "Cranial shape transformation in the evolution of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)". Die Naturwissenschaften. 98 (2): 107–16. Bibcode:2011NW.....98..107F. doi:10.1007/s00114-010-0748-x. PMID 21132275. S2CID 26738942.
- ^ Wang, X., Su, D.F., Jablonski, N.G. et al. Earliest giant panda false thumb suggests conflicting demands for locomotion and feeding. Sci Rep 12, 10538 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13402-y
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