Ailuridae is a
family in the
mammal order
Carnivora. The family consists of the
red panda (the sole living representative) and its extinct relatives.
Georges Cuvier first described Ailurus as belonging to the
raccoon family in 1825; this classification has been controversial ever since.[1] It was classified in the raccoon family because of
morphological similarities of the head, colored ringed tail, and other morphological and
ecological characteristics. Somewhat later, it was assigned to the
bear family.[2]
Molecular
phylogenetic studies had shown that, as an ancient species in the order
Carnivora, the red panda is relatively close to the American
raccoon and may be either a monotypic family or a subfamily within the
procyonid family.[1][3][4] An in-depth
mitochondrial DNA population analysis study stated: "According to the fossil record, the Red Panda diverged from its common ancestor with bears about 40 million years ago."[1][5] With this divergence, by comparing the
sequence difference between the red panda and the raccoon, the observed
mutation rate for the red panda was calculated to be on the order of 109, which is apparently an underestimate compared with the average rate in mammals.[6] This underestimation is probably due to multiple recurrent mutations as the
divergence between the red panda and the raccoon is extremely deep.[citation needed]
The most recent molecular-systematic
DNA research places the red panda into its own independent family, Ailuridae. Ailuridae are, in turn, part of a trichotomy within the broad superfamily
Musteloidea[7] that also includes the
Procyonidae (
raccoons) and a group that further subdivides into the Mephitidae (
skunks) and
Mustelidae (
weasels); but it is not a
bear (Ursidae).[8]
Ailurids appear to have originated during the Late
Oligocene to Early
Miocene in Europe. The earliest known member, Amphictis, was likely an unspecialised carnivore, based on its dentition. Ailurids subsequently dispersed into Asia and North America. The puma-sized Simocyon found in Middle
Miocene-Early
Pliocene of Europe, North America and China was likely a
hypercarnivore. Like modern red panda it had a "false thumb" to aid in climbing. Members of the subfamily Ailurinae, which includes the modern red panda as well as the extinct genera Pristinailurus and Parailurus, developed a specialised dental morphology with blunted
cusps, creating an effective grinding surface to process plant material.[9]
Classification
The relationship of the Ailuridae with other carnivorans is shown in the following
phylogenetic tree, which is based on the
molecular phylogenetic analysis of six genes in Flynn (2005),[10] with the musteloids updated following the multigene analysis of Law et al. (2018).[11]
In addition to Ailurus, the family Ailuridae includes seven extinct genera, most of which are assigned to three subfamilies: Amphictinae, Simocyoninae, and Ailurinae.[12][13][14][15][16]
Ailurus fulgens styani Thomas, 1902 – Eastern red panda
Ailurus fulgens fulgens F. Cuvier, 1825 – Western red panda
An additional, unnamed taxon called only "Ailurinae indet." was described in 2001 based on an upper molar from Four, a Middle
Miocene-age locality near Isère,
France.[19]
^Morlo, Michael; Peigné, Stéphane (2010). "Molecular and morphological evidence for Ailuridae and a review of its genera". In Goswami, Anjali; Friscia, Anthony (eds.). Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on Phylogeny, Form, and Function. pp. 92–140.
doi:
10.1017/CBO9781139193436.005.
ISBN978-0-521-73586-5.
Davis D. Dwight (1964). "The Giant Panda: A Morphological Study of Evolutionary Mechanisms". Zoology Memoirs. 3: 1–339.
Decker D.M., Wozencraft W.C. (1991). "Phylogenetic Analysis of Recent Procyonid Genera". Journal of Mammalogy. 72 (1): 42–55.
doi:
10.2307/1381979.
JSTOR1381979.
Flynn, J.J. and G.D. Wesley Hunt. (2005a). "Carnivora." in The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origin, Timing and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades, by D. Archibold and K. Rose. Baltimore.
ISBN0-8018-8022-X
Flynn, John J. Flynn, Michael A. Nedbal, J.W. Dragoo, and R.L. Honeycutt. (1998) "Whence the Red Panda?" Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Vol. 17, No. 2, November 2000, pp. 190–199.
[1]
Glatston, A.R. (1989). Talk Panda Biology. The Hague.
ISBN90-5103-026-6
Glatston, A.R. (compiler) (1994). "The Red Panda, Olingos, Coatis, Raccoons, and their Relatives: Status survey and conservation action plan for Procyonids and Ailurids."
IUCN/SSC Mustelid, Viverrid, and Procyonid Specialist Group. IUCN/SSC, Gland, Switzerland.
Gregory W.K. (1936). "On the Phylogenetic Relationships of the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda) to other Arctoid Carnivores". American Museum Novitates (878): 1–29.
Hu, J.C. (1990). "Proceedings of studies of the red panda." Chinese Scientific Publishing, Beijing, China [in Chinese].
Wilson, Don E. and DeeAnn M. Reeder. (2005). Mammal of Species of the World. Johns Hopkins University press.
ISBN0-8018-8221-4.