''Sardolutra ichnusae'' 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 ...

from the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

of Sardinia. It was originally described as ''Nesolutra ichnusae''. It was a rather small species of otter, probably living in the sea. Among its characteristics is a relatively very large

baculum The baculum (: bacula), also known as the penis bone, penile bone, ''os penis'', ''os genitale'', or ''os priapi'', is a bone in the penis of many placental mammals. It is not present in humans, but is present in the penises of some primates, ...

, larger than in any living otter. The species probably evolved from a species of '' Lutra'', maybe '' L. castiglionis''.

References

Prehistoric mustelids Pleistocene carnivorans Otters Prehistoric mammals of Europe Monotypic prehistoric carnivoran genera Pleistocene genus extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1992 {{Paleo-carnivora-stub