''Algarolutra'' is an extinct endemic genus of

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

. The single species ''A. majori'' was originally attributed to the genus '' Cyrnaonyx'' and its

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

''C. antiqua'', which was based on fossils from Corsica and also from mainland France. From mainland Europe, only lower dentition was known, whereas from Corsica and Sardinia only upper dentition was known. When a ''Cyrnaonyx antiqua'' fossil with both upper and lower dentition was found in England, it became clear that the species ''majori'' was too different to keep even in the same genus and the genus ''Algarolutra'' was described. appearing to belong to separate genera. ''A. majori'' is known only from very sparse evidence.

Sources

* Malatesta, A. & Willemsen, G. F. 'Algarolutra g.n. established for a fossil otter of the Sardinia island'. ''Geologica Romana'' 25: 285-286 (1986) * Willemsen, G. F., 'A revision of the Pliocene and Quaternary Lutrinae from Europe', ''Scripta Geologica'' vol. 101 (1992). Prehistoric mustelids Pleistocene carnivorans Monotypic prehistoric carnivoran genera Prehistoric mammals of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1978 {{paleo-carnivora-stub