''Ailurarctos'' ("cat bear") is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...

from the Late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, some 8

million years ago Million years ago, abbreviated as Mya, Myr (megayear) or Ma (megaannum), is a unit of time equal to (i.e. years), or approximately 31.6 teraseconds. Usage Myr is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used w ...

. Different teeth structures in the ''

Ailuropoda ''Ailuropoda'' is the only extant genus in the ursid (bear) subfamily Ailuropodinae. It contains one living and one or more fossil species of panda. Only one species—'' Ailuropoda melanoleuca''—currently exists; the other three species are ...

'' lineage indicate a

mosaic evolution Mosaic evolution (or modular evolution) is the concept, mainly from palaeontology, that evolutionary change takes place in some body parts or systems without simultaneous changes in other parts. Another definition is the "evolution of characters ...

during the past 2 million years. Like modern giant pandas, ''Ailurarctos'' had a false thumb that allowed it to grip bamboo, suggesting that the panda's specialized bamboo diet goes back to as early as 6 to 7 million years ago.Wang, X., Su, D.F., Jablonski, N.G. et al. ''Earliest giant panda false thumb suggests conflicting demands for locomotion and feeding''. Sci Rep 12, 10538 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13402-y

References

Miocene mammals of Asia Fossil taxa described in 1989 Miocene bears Prehistoric carnivoran genera Ailuropodinae {{paleo-carnivora-stub