Ailuropoda baconi

Extinct species of bear

Ailuropoda baconi Temporal range: Late Pleistocene

Skull
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Genus:	Ailuropoda
Species:	†A. baconi
Binomial name
†Ailuropoda baconi (Woodward 1915)

Ailuropoda baconi^[1] is an extinct panda known from cave deposits in south China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand from the Late Pleistocene, 750 thousand years ago, and was preceded by A. wulingshanensis and A. microta as an ancestor of the giant panda (A. melanoleuca).^[2] Very little is known about this animal; however, its latest fossils have been dated to the Late Pleistocene.^[3]

A. baconi is the largest panda ancestor on record and was larger than its descendant.^[4]

References

Wikispecies has information related to Ailuropoda baconi.

^ Woodward, A. Smith (1915). "On the Skull of an extinct Mammal related to Æluropus from a Cave in the Ruby Mines at Mogok, Burma". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 85 (III): 425–428. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1915.tb07605.x.
^ C. Jin, R. L. Ciochon, W. Dong, R. M. Hunt, Jr., J. Liu, M. Jaeger, and Q. Zhu. 2007. "The first skull of the earliest giant panda". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:10932-10937
^ Switek, Brian. "Bears and Bamboo: The fossil record of giant pandas". WIRED.
^ C. Jin, R. L. Ciochon, W. Dong, R. M. Hunt, Jr., J. Liu, M. Jaeger, and Q. Zhu. 2007. "The first skull of the earliest giant panda". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:10932-10937

Extinct members of the family Ursidae

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia

†Hemicyoninae

†Cephalogalini	†Adelpharctos †Cephalogale †Cyonarctos †Filholictis †Phoberogale
†Hemicyonini	†Dinocyon †Hemicyon †Zaragocyon
†Phoberocyonini	†Phoberocyon †Plithocyon