The first skull of the earliest giant panda

Abstract

Fossils of the giant panda Ailuropoda (Order Carnivora, Family Ursidae) are largely isolated teeth, mandibles, and a few rare skulls, known from the late Pliocene to late Pleistocene in China and Southeast Asia. Much of this material represents a Pleistocene chronospecies, Ailuropoda baconi, an animal larger than the living giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca. The earliest certain record of Ailuropoda is the late Pliocene chronospecies, Ailuropoda microta, smaller than either A. baconi or A. melanoleuca, and previously known only from teeth and a few mandibles from karst caves in south China. Here, we report the discovery of the first skull of A. microta, establishing its cranial anatomy and demonstrating that the specialized cranial and dental adaptations of Ailuropoda for durophagous feeding behavior centered on bamboo were already evident in this late Pliocene species. The skull from Jinyin cave (Guangxi) and dental remains from other karst localities in southeastern China show that Ailuropoda microta occupied south China from Ϸ2 to 2.4 Myr ago after a marked global climatic deterioration. Dental and basicranial anatomy indicate a less specialized morphology early in the history of the lineage and support derivation of the giant panda from the Miocene Asian ursid Ailurarctos.Carnivora ͉ Ailuropoda microta ͉ China ͉ karst caves ͉ Southeast Asia

Evolutionary trend in dental size in Gigantopithecus blacki revisited

“…While Gigantopithecus became progressively larger through time, the contemporary Pongo became smaller from the Early to Late Pleistocene, with a possible speciation event that saw the large-sized Pongo weidenreichi replaced by the smaller Pongo devosi . The same timeframe witnessed a size change in the giant panda lineage beginning with the "pygmy" panda, Ailuropoda microta, in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, through the largest chronospecies, Ailuropoda baconi, in the late Pleistocene, and culminating in the relatively small extant species, Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Jin et al, 2007;Figueirido et al, 2011).…”

A newly discovered Gigantopithecus fauna from Sanhe Cave, Chongzuo, Guangxi, South China

“…The teeth of Gigantopithecus blacki in Sanhe Cave are significantly larger than their counterparts at the above sites. The Gigantopithecus faunas at the above sites have yielded primitive species, such as Ailuropoda microta [10] , Cuon dudius, and Tapirs sanyuanensis; while the Sanhe fauna contains relatively advanced species, such as Ailuropoda wulingshanensis [10] , Cuon antiquus and Tapirus sinensis. Moreover, the proportion of extant species in the Sanhe fauna is higher than those of the above early Early Pleistocene faunas.…”

“…The geographical distribution of Gigantopithecus ranges from China to Himachal Pradesh in north India, the Potwar Plateau in north Pakistan, and Tham Khuyen Cave in Vietnam, which borders Guangxi, China. The representative faunas are from Longgupo Cave in Wushan County, Chongqing, Liucheng Gigantopithecus Cave in Guangxi, Mohui Cave in Tiandong County, Guangxi, Longgudong Cave in Jianshi County, Hubei, Tahsin Gigantopithecus Cave in Guangxi, and Nongmo Hill in Bama, Guangxi These faunas represent different ages of the Pleistocene [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and each of them has yielded Gigantopithecus blacki. Research on the dental dimensions of Gigantopithecus black indicates that a certain consistency exists in terms of size variation and that there is a tendency for a gradual increase in the size of teeth from early to late Pleistocene [14][15][16] .…”

Anatomía comparada de los senos frontales en el félido dientes de sable primitivo <i>Promegantereon ogygia</i> (Felidae, Machairodontinae) y felinos actuales de tamaño similar

“…Due to this, the use of these techniques in anatomical studies of cranial internal morphology has greatly increased in the last two decades (Brochu, 2000;Colbert et al, 2005;García et al, 2007;Jin et al, 2007;Dong, 2008;Silcox et al, 2009).…”