The first skull of the earliest giant panda
The first skull of the earliest giant panda
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0704198104
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发表时间：
2007-06-26
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Zhu, Qizhi
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jin, Changzhu;Ciochon, Russell L.;Zhu, Qizhi
大熊猫大熊猫（食肉目、熊科）的化石主要是孤立的牙齿、下颌骨和一些罕见的头骨，发现于中国和东南亚的上新世晚期至更新世晚期。这些材料大部分代表了更新世年代种——Ailuropoda baconi，一种比现存大熊猫 Ailuropoda melanoleuca 更大的动物。大熊猫最早的确定记录是上新世晚期的年代种，Ailuropoda microta，比 A. baconi 或 A. melanoleuca 都要小，以前仅从中国南方喀斯特洞穴的牙齿和一些下颌骨中得知。在这里，我们报告了A. microta的第一个头骨的发现，建立了它的颅骨解剖结构，并证明了大熊猫针对以竹子为中心的硬食性摄食行为的特殊颅骨和牙齿适应在这个上新世晚期物种中已经很明显。来自广西金银洞的头骨和来自中国东南部其他喀斯特地区的牙齿遗骸表明，在全球气候明显恶化之后，大熊猫在大约 2 至 2.4 Myr 之前占据了中国南方。牙齿和基本颅骨解剖表明，在谱系历史的早期，大熊猫的形态学不太专业，并支持大熊猫源自中新世亚洲熊科动物 Ailurarctos。
Fossils of the giant panda Ailuropoda (Order Carnivora, Family Ursidae) are largely isolated teeth, mandibles, and a few rare skulls, known from the late Pliocene to late Pleistocene in China and Southeast Asia. Much of this material represents a Pleistocene chronospecies, Ailuropoda baconi, an animal larger than the living giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca. The earliest certain record of Ailuropoda is the late Pliocene chronospecies, Ailuropoda microta, smaller than either A. baconi or A. melanoleuca, and previously known only from teeth and a few mandibles from karst caves in south China. Here, we report the discovery of the first skull of A. microta, establishing its cranial anatomy and demonstrating that the specialized cranial and dental adaptations of Ailuropoda for durophagous feeding behavior centered on bamboo were already evident in this late Pliocene species. The skull from Jinyin cave (Guangxi) and dental remains from other karst localities in southeastern China show that Ailuropoda microta occupied south China from approximate to 2 to 2.4 Myr ago after a marked global climatic deterioration. Dental and basicranial anatomy indicate a less specialized morphology early in the history of the lineage and support derivation of the giant panda from the Miocene Asian ursid Ailurarctos.