Ailurarctos

Ailurarctos; Temporal range: Late Miocene
	Paleoart of Ailurarctos
Scientific classification
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
Species
	†A. lufengensis Qi et al., 1989; †A. yuanmouenensis Zong, 1997

Ailurarctos ("cat bear") is an extinct genus of panda from the Late Miocene of China, some 8 million years ago.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

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

^ 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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[QiuQi1989-1] 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.

[2] "A Picture of Giant Panda's Evolutionary History and Fossil Evidences". China Giant Panda Museum. Retrieved 7 November 2015.

[3] 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.

[4] 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.

[5] 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.

[6] 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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