Search results for "Ailuropodinae"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Kretzoiarctos gen. nov., the oldest member of the giant panda clade
2012
The phylogenetic position of the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Carnivora: Ursidae: Ailuropodinae), has been one of the most hotly debated topics by mammalian biologists and paleontologists during the last century. Based on molecular data, it is currently recognized as a true ursid, sister-taxon of the remaining extant bears, from which it would have diverged by the Early Miocene. However, from a paleobiogeographic and chronological perspective, the origin of the giant panda lineage has remained elusive due to the scarcity of the available Miocene fossil record. Until recently, the genus Ailurarctos from the Late Miocene of China (ca. 8–7 mya) was recognized as the oldest undoubted me…
Una nueva especie de <i>Agriarctos</i> (Ailuropodinae, Ursidae, Carnivora) en la localidad de Nombrevilla 2 (Zaragoza, España)
2011
Una nueva especie de úrsido primitivo, Agriarctos beatrix procedente de la localidad de Nombrevilla 2 (Zaragoza, cuenca de Calatayud-Daroca) es descrita en este trabajo. Los nuevos fósiles de Nombrevilla 2 se relacionan estrechamente con Agriarctos depereti de la localidad de Soblay (Vallesiense superior, Francia), pero en la forma española los caracteres derivados compartidos son más primitivos. Agriarctos beatrix es la primera aparición conocida hasta el presente de un miembro de la subfamilia Ailuropodinae en el registro fossil.
2006
We describe for the first time the radial sesamoid or “false thumb” of the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), showing its great morphological similarities with that of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and the differences with that of the rest of the Ursidae. This points to the existence of a common origin for this structure in both species, but considering the accepted phylogenies of ursids, the sharing of a “false thumb” in T. ornatus and A. melanoleuca would be a plesiomorphy for these groups, whereas in the rest of the ursids the radial sesamoid was probably reduced, lacking the specialised function that this bone has in Tremarctinae and Ailuropodinae.