Siamogole thailandica, nouveau Mustelidae (Carnivora, Mammalia) neogene du Sud-Est asiatique

A new otter of giant size,Siamogale melilutrasp. nov. (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora), from the latest Miocene Shuitangba site in north-eastern Yunnan, south-western China, and a total-evidence phylogeny of lutrines

“…Overall, our new Shuitangba form most closely resembles Siamogale thailandica (Ginsburg et al 1983;Grohe et al 2010). Strikingly, the P4s of S. melilutra and S. thailandica share a protocone crest, and the M1s share a medially thickened and distinctly distally enlarged lingual cingulum, which forms an expanded talon, and the presence of a cuspule just distal to the metacone.…”

“…Our coding of fossil bunodont otters depends both on our own observations of the specimens from the Siwaliks and on published sources: Pilgrim (1932), Grohe (2011) for Vishnuonyx; Peigne et al (2008), Grohe et al (2013) for Sivaonyx (S. gandakasensis, S. bathygnathus, S. beyi); Falconer (1868), Matthew (1929), Geraads et al (2011) for Enhydriodon (E. sivalensis, E. falconeri, E. dikkikae). Other fossil taxa included in our cladistic analysis are coded mainly based on illustrations and descriptions from the literature: Roman & Viret (1934), Helbing (1936) for Paralutra jaegeri; Willemsen (1983), Villier et al (2011) for Paralutra garganensis; Ginsburg et al (1983), Villalta & Crusafont-Pairo (1945), H€ urzeler (1987 for Tyrrhenolutra helbingi; Morales & Pickford (2005) for Paludolutra (P. lluecai, P. marammena, P. campanii); Berta & Morgan (1985), Lambert (1997) for Enhydritherium terranovae; Zdansky (1924) for 'Lutra' aonychoides). Finally, coding for extant lutrines and Siamogale is mostly based on our own examination of specimens and from Grohe et al (2010) and Grohe (2011).…”

“…Old World Mio-Pleistocene lutrines and other otter-like forms in Asia that warrant close examination include: Vishnuonyx from the middle Miocene of the Indian Subcontinent and Thailand, and middle to late Miocene of Kenya; Sivaonyx from the middle Miocene of Thailand, the late Miocene of Yunnan, the Indian Subcontinent and Europe, and the late Miocene to early Pleistocene of Africa; Enhydriodon from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Indian Subcontinent and probably Africa; 'Lutra' aonychoides from the late Miocene of China; and Siamogale thailandica from the late middle Miocene of Thailand (Ginsburg et al 1983;Qi 1983Qi , 1985Qi , 2006Pickford 2007;Grohe 2011;Grohe et al 2010Grohe et al , 2013. Of these, Vishnuonyx, Sivaonyx and Enhydriodon belong to a clade of their own, the Enhydriodontini of Pickford et al (2007).…”

“…Southeast Asia became germane to this matter with the discovery of dental remains of Siamogale thailandica from the middle Miocene lignites of Mae Moh in northern Thailand (Ginsburg et al 1983;Ginsburg 1984). Initially described as a lutrine based on a single left m1 (Ginsburg et al 1983), Siamogale was later suggested to resemble some European fossil badgers (Lartetictis and Adroverictis), and the North American Mionictis because of their common possession of a basined m1 talonid with a distal ridge on the metaconid that connects with the entoconid crest (Ginsburg & Morales 1996).…”

“…Initially described as a lutrine based on a single left m1 (Ginsburg et al 1983), Siamogale was later suggested to resemble some European fossil badgers (Lartetictis and Adroverictis), and the North American Mionictis because of their common possession of a basined m1 talonid with a distal ridge on the metaconid that connects with the entoconid crest (Ginsburg & Morales 1996). However, Ginsburg & Morales (1996) placed Lartetictis within the Melinae and did not include Siamogale in their phylogeny.…”