Ailuridae is afamily in themammal orderCarnivora. The family consists of thered panda (the sole living representative) and its extinct relatives.
Georges Cuvier first describedAilurus as belonging to theraccoon family in 1825; this classification has been controversial ever since.[1] It was classified in the raccoon family because ofmorphological similarities of the head, colored ringed tail, and other morphological andecological characteristics. Somewhat later, it was assigned to thebear family.[2]
Molecularphylogenetic studies had shown that, as an ancient species in the orderCarnivora, the red panda is relatively close to the Americanraccoon and may be either a monotypic family or a subfamily within theprocyonid family.[1][3][4] An in-depthmitochondrial 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 thesequence difference between the red panda and the raccoon, the observedmutation 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 thedivergence between the red panda and the raccoon is extremely deep.[citation needed]
The most recent molecular-systematicDNA research places the red panda into its own independent family, Ailuridae. Ailuridae are, in turn, part of a trichotomy within the broad superfamilyMusteloidea[7] that also includes theProcyonidae (raccoons), the Mephitidae (skunks), andMustelidae (weasels); but it is not abear (Ursidae).[8]
Ailurids appear to have originated during the LateOligocene to EarlyMiocene 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-sizedSimocyon found in MiddleMiocene-EarlyPliocene of Europe, North America and China was likely ahypercarnivore. 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 generaPristinailurus andParailurus, developed a specialised dental morphology with bluntedcusps, creating an effective grinding surface to process plant material.[9]
The relationship of the Ailuridae with other carnivorans is shown in the followingphylogenetic tree, which is based on themolecular 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 toAilurus, 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 styaniThomas, 1902 – Eastern red panda
Ailurus fulgens fulgensF. 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 MiddleMiocene-age locality near Isère,France.[19]
^Salesa, Manuel J.; Peigné, Stéphane; Antón, Mauricio; Morales, Jorge (2022). "Evolution of the family Ailuridae: origins and Old-World fossil record".Red Panda: Biology and Conservation of the First Panda (2nd ed.). Elsevier. pp. 15–29.doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-823753-3.00007-7.ISBN978-0-12-823753-3.S2CID243825496.
^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.
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.; Hunt, G. D. Wesley (2005). "Carnivora". In Archibold, D.; Rose, K. (eds.).The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origin, Timing and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades. Baltimore: JHU Press.ISBN0-8018-8022-X.
Gregory, W. K. (August 8, 1936). "On the Phylogenetic Relationships of the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda) to other Arctoid Carnivores".American Museum Novitates (878):1–29.hdl:2246/4138.
Hu, J. C. (1990). [Proceedings of studies of the red panda] (in Chinese). Beijing: Chinese Scientific Publishing.{{cite book}}:|trans-title= requires|title= or|script-title= (help)
Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M. (2005).Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Vol. 1. JHU Press.ISBN0-8018-8221-4.
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