Ailuropoda
Ailuropoda is the only extant genus in the ursid (bear) subfamily Ailuropodinae. It contains one living and four fossil species of giant panda.[1]
| Ailuropoda | |
|---|---|
| |
| The giant panda, the only extant species in the genus and subfamily. | |
| |
| Ailuropoda fovealis skull | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Subfamily: | Ailuropodinae Grevé, 1894 |
| Genus: | ''Ailuropoda'' Milne-Edwards, 1870 |
| Species | |
|
†A. baconi | |
Only one species—Ailuropoda melanoleuca—currently exists; the other four species are prehistoric chronospecies. Despite its taxonomic classification as a carnivoran, the giant panda has a diet that is primarily herbivorous, which consists almost exclusively of bamboo.
Giant pandas have descended from Ailurarctos, which lived during the late Miocene.[1]
In 2011 fossil teeth from over 11 mya found in the Iberian peninsula were identified as belonging to a previously unidentified species in the Ailuropodinae. This species was named Agriarctos beatrix.
Classification
edit- †Ailuropoda microta Pei, 1962 (late Pliocene)[clarification needed]
- †Ailuropoda wulingshanensis Wang et alii. 1982 (late Pliocene - early Pleistocene)
- †Ailuropoda baconi (Woodward 1915) (Pleistocene)
- †Ailuropoda minor Pei, 1962 (Pleistocene)[clarification needed]
- Ailuropoda melanoleuca (David, 1869)
- Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca (David, 1869)
- Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis Wan Q.H., Wu H. et Fang S.G., 2005
- †Ailuropoda melanoleuca hastorni
Other pandas
editFormerly, the red, or lesser, panda (Ailurus fulgens) was considered closely related to giant pandas. It is no longer considered a bear, however, and is now classified as the sole living representative of a different carnivore family (Ailuridae).
References
edit- ^ a b Jin, Changzhu; Russell L. Ciochon, Wei Dong, Robert M. Hunt Jr., Jinyi Liu, Marc Jaeger and Qizhi Zhu (June 19, 2007). "The first skull of the earliest giant panda" (PDF; fee required). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (26): 10932–10937. doi:10.1073/pnas.0704198104. PMC 1904166. PMID 17578912. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
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