Amphictis Explained

Amphictis is an extinct genus of ailurid that existed from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene with fossils found in Eurasia and North America with a total of nine described species.[1] The interrelationships of the different species as well as their relationship to the other ailurids is not fully understood.[2] Usually Amphictis is classified in the basal monotypic subfamily Amphictinae, but there is no certainty as the genus could potentially be a paraphyletic with the Oligocene species A. borbonica being a potential sister taxon to the ancestor of the subfamily Ailurinae (today consisting just the red panda), while a Middle Miocene clade consisting of an anagenesis line from A. prolongata–to–A. wintershofensis–to–A. cuspida being closer to the ancestry of the now extinct Simocyoninae (with A. wintershofensis being the sister taxon to the clade). This is due to the nature of their plesiomorphic nature of their anatomy.[2]

Taxonomy

The first and type species was originally described as Viverra antiqua in 1842,[3] but was assigned to a new genus Amphictis in 1853.[4] A second species, Amphictis ambigua (sometimes spelled A. ambiguus) was described in 1872.[5] Another three species, A. japonica, A. sarsi, and A. wyvillei, were described in 1885,[6] but have since been reassigned or synonymized. Further species described include A. milloquensis in 1928,[7] A. borbonica in 1929,[8] A. schlosseri and A. wintershofensis both in 1994,[9] [10] and A. prolongata in 1996.[11]

Another species, A. aginensis, was described in 1973[12] but was reassigned to the genus Stromeriella in 1996.[11] An eighth species, A. cuspida, was described in 2003[13] and a ninth, A. timicua, in 2017.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Jon A. . Baskin . 2017 . Additional carnivorans from the early Hemingfordian Miller Local Fauna, Florida . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 37 . 2 . e1293069 . 10.1080/02724634.2017.1293069 . 2017JVPal..37E3069B . 90182619 .
  2. Book: Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on Phylogeny, Form, and Function . Morlo . Michael . Peigné . Stéphane . Anjali . Goswami . Anthony . Friscia . 2010 . 978-0-521-73586-5 . 92–140 . Molecular and morphological evidence for Ailuridae and a review of its genera . 10.1017/CBO9781139193436.005.
  3. Book: de Blainville . Henri Marie Ducrotay . 1842 . Ostéographie ou description iconographique comparée du squelette et du système dentaire des cinq classes d'animaux vertébrés récents et fossiles: pour servir de base a la zoologie et a la géologie . Paris . J.B. Baillière et fils.
  4. Pomel. Auguste. Catalogue des vertébrés fossiles (suite) . Ann Scient Litt Ind Auvergne . 26 . 1853 . 81–229.
  5. Gervais . Paul . 1872 . Mammifères dont les ossements accompagnent les dépôts de chaux phosphatée des départements du Tarn-et-Garonne et du Lot . French . Journal de Zoologie . 1 . 261–268 .
  6. McIntosh . William C. . 1885 . Report on the Annelida Polychæta collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76 . Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873–76, Zoology . 12 . 34 . i–xxxvi; 1–554; Pls. 1–55, 1a–39a .
  7. Book: Helbing, Hermann . 1928 . Carnivoren des oberen Stampien . Birkhäuser .
  8. Viret . Jean . 1929 . Les faunes de Mammifères de líOligocène supérieur de la Limagne bourbonnaise . French . Annales de l'Université de Lyon . Nouvelle série, 1 Sciences, médecine . 47 . 1–328 .
  9. Heizmann . Elmar P. J. . Morlo . Michael . 1994 . Amphictis schlosseri n. sp. – eine neue Carnivoren-Art (Mammalia) aus dem Unter-Miozän von Südwestdeutschland . Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde . Serie B (Geologie und Palaeontologie) . 216 . 1–25 .
  10. Roth (1994) in Heizmann and Morlo (1994) (op. cit.)
  11. Morlo . Michael . 1996 . Carnivoren aus dem Unter-Miozän des Mainzer Beckens . Senckenbergiana Lethaea . 76 . 1–2. 193–249 . 10.1007/BF03042850 . 131401280 .
  12. Bonis . L. de . 1973 . Contribution à l'étude des mammifères de l'Aquitanien de l'Agenais. Rongeurs — Carnivores — Périssodactyles . Mémoires du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle . 28 . 1–192 .
  13. Nagel . D. . 2003 . Carnivora from the middle Miocene hominoid locality of Çandir (Turkey) . Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg . 240 . 113–132 .

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