''Lutra euxena'' is an extinct species 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 ...

that was endemic to

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

during the middle to late

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 ...

. The species likely went extinct because of human activity.

Evolutionary history

The species lived in Malta between 2.588 and 0.012 Ma., having a relatively equal size to its mainland counterpart. It along with its Mediterranean counterparts colonized islands by crossing sea channels that were up to 30 km across. Over time, these otters adopted a more land-based lifestyle, eating small mammals on islands alongside fish and shellfish. It was discovered by Dorothea Bate.

References

Extinct carnivorans Fauna of Malta Mustelidae Animals described in 1935 Fossil taxa described in 1935 {{Mustelidae-stub