''Ballusia'' is a genus of small bear from the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

epoch, about 20.5-18 million years ago. Fossil remains attributed to the genus have been uncovered in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

(Poland) and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

(Russia, Mongolia, China). The genus ''Ballusia'' was established in 1998 on the basis of different fossils originally classified as various species of the genera ''

Ursavus ''Ursavus'' is an extinct genus of bear that existed in North America, Europe, and Asia during the Miocene period, about 23–5.3 million years ago (Mya), existing for roughly . The genus apparently dispersed from Asia into North America abo ...

'' and '' Hemicyon'', with ''B. elmensis'' as the type species. The exact relationship of ''Ballusia'' to "true" bears (subfamily Ursinae, which include modern bears) are not yet fully understood: many palaeontologists have classified it as a primitive member of Ursinae, but its known skeletal elements have some features in common with the extinct bear subfamily

Hemicyoninae Hemicyoninae is an extinct subfamily of Ursidae, often called dog bears (literally "half dog" (Ancient Greek, Greek: )). They were bear-like carnivorans living in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia during the Oligocene through Miocene epoch ...

. Because of this, some researchers refer ''Ballusia'' as "Ursidae ''

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

''". Ginsburg and Morales regarded ''B. elmenensis'' as ancestral to ''

'', as did Marciszak and Lipecki, even though the temporal range of the two genera seems to have overlapped.

Description

''Ballusia'' were smaller than most living bear species: fossil remains of the species ''B. orientalis''Qui >, Yan D, Hang J & Wang B (1985). "Dentition of the ''Ursavus'' skeleton from Shanwang, Shandong Province". ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'' 23: p. 264-275 indicate an animal about the size of a

domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small Domestication, domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have sh ...

with body proportions similar to a

wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

, while ''B. elmenensis'' were the size of a

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...

. It possessed slender legsJiangzuo Q & Flynn J.H. (2020). "The Earliest Ursine Bear Demonstrates the Origin of Plant-Dominated Omnivory in Carnivora". ''IScience'' 23(6)
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101235
/ref> and also had relatively longer tail than modern bears.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18202820 Miocene bears Miocene mammals of Asia Miocene mammals of Europe Prehistoric carnivoran genera