Ailuridae - red panda

[OldGreenGrolar]

A good thread to discuss the red panda too since it is part of the raccoon family.

[brobear]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailuridae 
 
Ailuridae is a family in the mammal order Carnivora. The family consists of the red panda (the sole living representative) and its extinct relatives. 
 
The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle and a ringed tail. Its head-to-body length is 51–63.5 cm (20.1–25.0 in) with a 28–48.5 cm (11.0–19.1 in) tail, and it weighs between 3.2 and 15 kg (7.1 and 33.1 lb). It is well adapted to climbing due to its flexible joints and curved semi-retractile claws.

The red panda was first formally described in 1825. The two currently recognised subspecies, the Himalayan and the Chinese red panda, genetically diverged about 250,000 years ago. The red panda's place on the evolutionary tree has been debated, but modern genetic evidence places it in close affinity with raccoons, weasels, and skunks. It is not closely related to the giant panda, which is a bear, though both possess elongated wrist bones or "false thumbs" used for grasping bamboo. The evolutionary lineage of the red panda (Ailuridae) stretches back around 25 to 18 million years ago, as indicated by extinct fossil relatives found in Eurasia and North America.

The red panda inhabits coniferous forests as well as temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, favouring steep slopes with dense bamboo cover close to water sources. It is solitary and largely arboreal. It feeds mainly on bamboo shoots and leaves, but also on fruits and blossoms. Red pandas mate in early spring, with the females giving birth to litters of up to four cubs in summer. It is threatened by poaching as well as destruction and fragmentation of habitat due to deforestation. The species has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2015. It is protected in all range countries.

Community-based conservation programmes have been initiated in Nepal, Bhutan and northeastern India; in China, it benefits from nature conservation projects. Regional captive breeding programmes for the red panda have been established in zoos around the world. It is featured in animated movies, video games, comic books and as the namesake of companies and music bands. 
 
The name "panda" is thought to have originated from the red panda's local Nepali name पञ्जा pajā "claw" or पौँजा paũjā "paw". In English, it was simply called "panda"; it became known as the "red panda" or "lesser panda" to distinguish it from the giant panda, which was formally described and named in 1869. The genus name Ailurus is adopted from the ancient Greek word αἴλουρος (ailouros), meaning "cat". The specific epithet fulgens is Latin for "shining, bright".

[brobear]

www.britannica.com/animal/red-panda 
 
Red panda, (Ailurus fulgens), also called lesser panda, panda, red cat-bear, or red bear-cat, reddish brown, long-tailed, raccoonlike mammal, about the size of a large domestic cat, that is found in the mountain forests of the Himalayas and adjacent areas of eastern Asia and subsists mainly on bamboo and other vegetation, fruits, and insects. Once classified as a relative of the giant panda, it is now usually classified as the sole member of the family Ailuridae.

[brobear]

animals.fandom.com/wiki/Ailuridae

Ailuridae is a family from the Carnivora order. It's including 1 extanct species,the Red Panda, and several extinct species.

Frédéric Georges Cuvier first described Ailurus as belonging to the raccoon family in 1825; this classification has been controversial ever since. It was classified in the raccoon family (Procyonidae) because of morphological similarities of the head, colored ringed tail, and other morphological and ecological characteristics. Then, it was assigned to the bear family (Ursidae).The most recent molecular-systematic DNA research places the Red Panda into its own independent family, Ailuridae.

Red Pandas have no close living relatives, and their nearest fossil ancestors, Parailurus, lived 3-4 million years ago. There may have been as many as three different species of Parailurus, all larger and more robust in the head and jaw, living in Europe and Asia but possibly crossing the Bering Strait into the Americas. The Red Panda may be the sole surviving species - a specialized offshoot surviving the Ice Age in a Chinese mountain refuge.

[brobear]

Reply #3 continued:
In addition to Ailurus, the family Ailuridae includes eight extinct genera, most of which are assigned to two subfamilies, Ailurinae and Simocyoninae.

Family Ailuridae
Genus Protursus (†)
Protursus simpsoni
?Subfamily Amphictinae
Genus Viretius (†)
Viretius goeriachensis
Genus Amphictis (†)
Amphictis aginensis
Amphictis antiqua
Amphictis borbonica
Amphictis prolongata
Amphictis schlosseri
Amphictis wintershofensis
Subfamily Simocyoninae (†)
Genus Alopecocyon (†)
Alopecocyon leardi
Genus Simocyon (†)
Simocyon batalleri
Simocyon diaphorus
Simocyon hungaricus
Simocyon primigenius
Subfamily Ailurinae
Genus Magerictis (†)
Magerictis imperialensis
Genus Pristinailurus (†)
Pristinailurus bristoli
Genus Parailurus (†)
Parailurus sp.
Parailurus hungaricus
Parailurus anglicus
Genus Ailurus
Ailurus fulgens - Himalayan red panda.
Ailurus stanyi - Chinese red panda. 

[OldGreenGrolar]

Brobear, you seem to remember all scientific names inside out.

[brobear]

Jan 7, 2021 21:21:33 GMT -5 OldGreenGrolar said:

Brobear, you seem to remember all scientific names inside out.

Not really. I copy and paste.

[brobear]

Apr 8, 2021 4:19:52 GMT -5 brobear said:

Quote: However, another investigation conducted in the same year after this one concluded that �the two pandas are more alike than are either giant panda and bear or lesser panda and raccoon."

*Since the experts in this field of science have not resolved the issue, we cannot claim the giant panda as positively being a bear. In all honesty, I lean towards that which I just quoted. I believe that the pandas are close relatives of both raccoons and bears ( perhaps in the middle ), but should be place within their own group. There the name "giant panda" is appropriate ( IMO ).

...and so I am pulling this topic - Ailuridae - red panda - over the the Ailuropoda page.

[brobear]

www.livescience.com/57312-red-pandas.html

Red pandas were at first classified as relatives of raccoons in the Procyonidae family, because of physical similarities, such as the head, teeth and ringed tail, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo. Later, because of some DNA similarities, they were classified as bears in the Ursidae family. Recent genetic research now places them in their own family, Ailuridae. They have no living relatives, and their nearest fossil ancestors lived 3 million to 4 million years ago. 
 
Here is the taxonomy of the red panda, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS):

Kingdom: Animalia Subkingdom: Bilateria Infrakingdom: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Superclass: Tetrapoda Class: Mammalia Subclass: Theria Infraclass: Eutheria Order: Carnivora Suborder: Caniformia Family: Ailuridae Genus and species: Ailurus fulgens Subspecies: Ailurus fulgens fulgens (found in the Himalayas), Ailurus fulgens refulgens (found in China)

Some taxonomists, as well as the ITIS and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), recognize two subspecies, while others argue for two separate species: the Himalayan red panda (Ailurus fulgens) and the Chinese red panda (Ailurus stanyi).

[brobear]

prehistoric-fauna.com/Simocyon

A small, or a red panda is a cute fluffy vegetarian living only in China. Her extinct ancestors were spread from Africa to North America. Simotion, for example, was a predator the size of a leopard, and its powerful jaws could even handle bones. And he also had an extra false finger on his front paws. How it turned out that these predatory animals initially switched to bamboo, is a mystery to me.  
                      

[brobear]

Red pandas face a fractured future

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220606105627.htm

The much-loved red panda is renowned for its tree-climbing ability and adorable nature, but new research shows the endangered mammal is being driven closer to extinction.

University of Queensland PhD candidate Damber Bista, who tracked red pandas in Nepal over a 12-month period from Queensland using GPS telemetry, has found that human impact is causing the mammal to restrict its movements which is further fragmenting their habitat.

Mr Bista said it was a worrying sign.

"Our research findings show that current patterns of habitat fragmentation and forest exploitation, from infrastructure projects such as new roads, are placing the red panda under increased threat," Mr Bista said.

"Because of this, red pandas are changing their activity to minimise their interactions with disturbances, such as humans, dogs, or livestock, and this is drastically interfering with natural interactions between the animals, resulting in population isolation."

"Our recommendation is for human activities to be strictly regulated during most if not all biologically crucial times such as mating, dispersal and birthing seasons," Mr Bista said.

This research was a collaborative effort between The University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, the Red Panda Network, and Rotterdam Zoo.

[brobear]

Red panda

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_panda

The red panda was described and named in 1825 by Frederic Cuvier, who gave it its current scientific name Ailurus fulgens. Cuvier's description was based on zoological specimens, including skin, paws, jawbones and teeth "from the mountains north of India", as well as an account by Alfred Duvaucel. The red panda was described earlier by Thomas Hardwicke in 1821, but his paper was only published in 1827. In 1902, Oldfield Thomas described a skull of a male red panda specimen under the name Ailurus fulgens styani in honour of Frederick William Styan who had collected this specimen in Sichuan.

The modern red panda is the only recognised species in the genus Ailurus. It is traditionally divided into two subspecies: the Himalayan red panda (A. f. fulgens) and the Chinese red panda (A. f. styani). The Himalayan subspecies has a straighter profile, a lighter coloured forehead and ochre-tipped hairs on the lower back and rump. The Chinese subspecies has a more curved forehead and sloping snout, a darker coat with a less white face and more contrast between the tail rings.

In 2020, results of a genetic analysis of red panda samples showed that the red panda populations in the Himalayas and China were separated about 250,000 years ago. The researchers suggested that the two subspecies should be treated as distinct species. Red Pandas in southeastern Tibet and northern Myanmar were found to be part of styani, while those of southern Tibet were of fulgens in the strict sense. DNA sequencing of 132 red panda faecal samples collected in Northeast India and China also showed two distinct clusters indicating that the Siang River constitutes the boundary between the Himalayan and Chinese red pandas. They probably diverged due to glaciation events on the southern Tibetan Plateau in the Pleistocene.

The placement of the red panda on the evolutionary tree has been debated. In the early 20th century, various scientists placed it in the family Procyonidae with raccoons and their allies. At the time, most prominent biologists also considered the red panda to be related to the giant panda, which would eventually be found to be a bear. A 1982 study examined the similarities and differences in the skull between the red panda and the giant panda, other bears and procyonids, and placed the species in its own family Ailuridae. The author of the study considered the red panda to be more closely related to bears. A 1995 mitochondrial DNA analysis revealed that the red panda has close affinities with procyonids. Further genetic studies in 2005, 2018 and 2021 have placed the red panda within the clade Musteloidea, which also includes Procyonidae, Mustelidae (weasels and relatives) and Mephitidae (skunks and relatives).

[brobear]

Red panda continued...

The family Ailuridae appears to have evolved in Europe in either the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene, about 25 to 18 million years ago. The earliest member Amphictis is known from its 10 cm (4 in) skull and may have been around the same size as the modern species. Its dentition consists of sharp premolars and carnassials (P4 and m1) and molars adapted for grinding (M1, M2 and m2), suggesting that it had a generalised carnivorous diet. Its placement within Ailuridae is based on the grooves on the side of its canine teeth. Other early or basal ailurids include Alopecocyon and Simocyon, whose fossils have been found throughout Eurasia and North America dating from the Middle Miocene, the latter of which survived into the Early Pliocene. Both have similar teeth to Amphictis and thus had a similar diet. The puma-sized Simocyon was likely a tree-climber and shared a "false thumb"—an extended wrist bone—with the modern species, suggesting the appendage was an adaptation to arboreal locomotion and not to feed on bamboo.

Later and more advanced ailurids are classified in the subfamily Ailurinae and are known as the "true" red pandas. These animals were smaller and more adapted for an omnivorous or herbivorous diet. The earliest known true panda is Magerictis from the Middle Miocene of Spain and known only from one tooth, a lower second molar. The tooth shows both ancestral and new characteristics having a relatively low and simple crown but also a lengthened crushing surface with developed tooth cusps like later species. Later ailurines include Pristinailurus bristoli which lived in eastern North America from the late Miocene to the Early Pliocene and species of the genus Parailurus which first appear in Early Pliocene Europe, spreading across Eurasia into North America. These animals are classified as a sister taxon to the lineage of the modern red panda. In contrast to the herbivorous modern species, these ancient pandas were likely omnivores, with highly cusped molars and sharp premolars.

The earliest fossil record of the modern genus Ailurus date no earlier than the Pleistocene and appears to have been limited to Asia. The modern red panda's lineage became adapted for a specialised bamboo diet, having molar-like premolars and more elevated cusps. The false thumb would secondarily gain a function in feeding.

Analysis of 53 red panda samples from Sichuan and Yunnan showed a high level of genetic diversity. The full genome of the red panda was sequenced in 2017. Researchers have compared it to the genome of the giant panda to learn the genetics of convergent evolution, as both species have false thumbs and are adapted for a specialised bamboo diet despite having the digestive system of a carnivore. Both pandas show modifications to certain limb development genes (DYNC2H1 and PCNT), which may play roles in the development of the thumbs. In switching from a carnivorous to a herbivorous diet, both species have reactivated taste receptor genes used for detecting bitterness, though the specific genes are different. 
 
*Pictured: Reconstructed skull and head of Simocyon, a large carnivorous early relative of the modern red panda.