TY - JOUR
T1 - A new otter of giant size, Siamogale melilutra sp. nov. (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora), from the latest Miocene Shuitangba site in north-eastern Yunnan, south-western China, and a total-evidence phylogeny of lutrines
AU - Wang, Xiaoming
AU - Grohé, Camille
AU - Su, Denise F.
AU - White, Stuart C.
AU - Ji, Xueping
AU - Kelley, Jay
AU - Jablonski, Nina G.
AU - Deng, Tao
AU - You, Youshan
AU - Yang, Xin
N1 - Funding Information:
White, BCS 1227964 to DFS, BCS 1227927 to NGJ., BCS 1227838 to JK), and the Yunnan Natural Science Foundation and Government of Zhaotong (2010CC010 to XJ,). Field excavation in 2015 was supported by special excavation funds from the IVPP, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41430102), and the governments of Zhaotong and Zhaoyang. Travel and postdoctoral stipends for CG were provided by the National Science Foundation (EAR-0958704) and for XW by the IVPP and the National Science Foundation (EAR-0958704, EAR-1227212).
Funding Information:
National Natural Science Foundation of China (41430102), and the governments of Zhaotong and Zhaoyang. Travel and postdoctoral stipends for CG were provided by the National Science Foundation (EAR-0958704) and for XW by the IVPP and the National Science Foundation (EAR-0958704, EAR-1227212). Numerous participants in the field excavations helped in retrieving and preparing the specimens described herein: P.-P. You, Y. Ji, T.-G. Li, Y. Wang, W.-Q Li, X.-B. Wang and others during the 2007?2010 field seasons; and S.-K. Hou, S.-Q, Wang, Q.-Q. Shi, Z.-H. Li, H.-W. Tong, T.-S. Yu, Lawrence Flynn, W.-Q. Li, Y.-K. Li, L.-Z. Li, S.-K. Chen during the 2015 field season. We thank Y. Ji for preparing and casting the otter specimens. We greatly appreciate the help from Jim Dines of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for access to the modern otter collection in his care and for assistance in securing a loan from the Field Museum of Natural History under the care of William Stanley. We also thank Neil Duncan, Eileen Westwig and Eleanor Hoeger for facilitating access to extant otter specimens from the American Museum of Natural History of New York. Hou Yemao of the IVPP assisted in microCT scanning of two specimens. CG would like to acknowledge Paul M. Velazco, Z. Jack Tseng and J. Angelo Soto-Centeno for advice on phylogeny. The artist's reconstruction was provided by Mauricio Ant?n, in consultation with Prof. Yong-Jiang Huang for background vegetation. We thank Dorata Dutsch and Kevin Kaiyuan Wang of the University of California at Santa Barbara for help in construction of the Latin name. We gratefully acknowledge Manuel J. Salesa and an anonymous reviewer for comments and suggestions in their careful reviews of this manuscript. Field excavations between 2007 and 2010 were supported by the United States National Science Foundation (BCS 1035897 to DFS and NGJ, BCS 0321893 to F. C. Howell and T. White, BCS 1227964 to DFS, BCS 1227927 to NGJ., BCS 1227838 to JK), and the Yunnan Natural Science Foundation and Government of Zhaotong (2010CC010 to XJ,). Field excavation in 2015 was supported by special excavation funds from the IVPP, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41430102), and the governments of Zhaotong and Zhaoyang. Travel and postdoctoral stipends for CG were provided by the National Science Foundation (EAR-0958704) and for XW by the IVPP and the National Science Foundation (EAR-0958704, EAR-1227212).
Funding Information:
Numerous participants in the field excavations helped in retrieving and preparing the specimens described herein: P.-P. You, Y. Ji, T.-G. Li, Y. Wang, W.-Q Li, X.-B. Wang and others during the 2007–2010 field seasons; and S.-K. Hou, S.-Q, Wang, Q.-Q. Shi, Z.-H. Li, H.-W. Tong, T.-S. Yu, Lawrence Flynn, W.-Q. Li, Y.-K. Li, L.-Z. Li, S.-K. Chen during the 2015 field season. We thank Y. Ji for preparing and casting the otter specimens. We greatly appreciate the help from Jim Dines of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for access to the modern otter collection in his care and for assistance in securing a loan from the Field Museum of Natural History under the care of William Stanley. We also thank Neil Duncan, Eileen Westwig and Eleanor Hoeger for facilitating access to extant otter specimens from the American Museum of Natural History of New York. Hou Yemao of the IVPP assisted in microCT scanning of two specimens. CG would like to acknowledge Paul M. Velazco, Z. Jack Tseng and J. Angelo Soto-Centeno for advice on phylogeny. The artist’s reconstruction was provided by Mauricio Antón, in consultation with Prof. Yong-Jiang Huang for background vegetation. We thank Dorata Dutsch and Kevin Kaiyuan Wang of the University of California at Santa Barbara for help in construction of the Latin name. We gratefully acknowledge Manuel J. Salesa and an anonymous reviewer for comments and suggestions in their careful reviews of this manuscript. Field excavations between 2007 and 2010 were supported by the United States National Science Foundation (BCS 1035897 to DFS and NGJ, BCS 0321893 to F. C. Howell and T.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London 2017. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/1/2
Y1 - 2018/1/2
N2 - Otters (subfamily Lutrinae) are semi-aquatic predators in the family Mustelidae. Modern otters have a worldwide distribution but their fossil record is poor, often consisting of fragmentary jaws and teeth. Multiple lineages have developed bunodont dentitions with enlargements of molars, usually for cracking molluscs or other hard foods. Some lineages have evolved badger-like teeth and, as a result, were often confused with melines (Old World badger clade). Siamogale thailandica Ginsburg, Invagat, & Tassy, 1983 from the middle Miocene basin of Mae Moh in northern Thailand is one such species, whose fragmentary dental remains have thus far impeded our understanding. A new species of fossil otter, Siamogale melilutra sp. nov., represented by a nearly complete cranium, mandible and partial skeletons of at least three individuals, was recovered from the latest Miocene (∼6.2 Ma) lignite beds of the Shuitangba Site in north-eastern Yunnan Province, south-western China. Computed tomography (CT) restoration of the crushed skull reveals a combination of otter-like and badger-like cranial and dental characteristics. The new species belongs to the Lutrinae because of its possession of a large infraorbital canal and ventral expansion of the mastoid process, among other traits. A distally expanded M1, however, gives a badger-like appearance. In overall morphology the Shuitangba otter is closest to Siamogale thailandica. A previously described jaw (‘Lutra’ aonychoides) from the early Pliocene of the Yushe Basin in north China is also here referred to S. melilutra. No previous attempt has been made to provide a global phylogenetic framework for otters. We present the first combined morphological and molecular (nuclear and mitochondrial DNAs) character matrices of five extant (Pteronura, Lontra, Enhydra, Aonyx, Lutra) and eight extinct genera (Tyrrhenolutra, Paralutra, Paludolutra, Enhydritherium, Siamogale, Vishnuonyx, Sivaonyx, Enhydriodon) to better understand the evolution of bunodont otters. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses consistently recover an eastern Asian clade that includes forms from Shuitangba, Yushe and Mae Moh, all of which are referred to Siamogale. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5C637018-0772-4C78-AA4B-783B71085D9D.
AB - Otters (subfamily Lutrinae) are semi-aquatic predators in the family Mustelidae. Modern otters have a worldwide distribution but their fossil record is poor, often consisting of fragmentary jaws and teeth. Multiple lineages have developed bunodont dentitions with enlargements of molars, usually for cracking molluscs or other hard foods. Some lineages have evolved badger-like teeth and, as a result, were often confused with melines (Old World badger clade). Siamogale thailandica Ginsburg, Invagat, & Tassy, 1983 from the middle Miocene basin of Mae Moh in northern Thailand is one such species, whose fragmentary dental remains have thus far impeded our understanding. A new species of fossil otter, Siamogale melilutra sp. nov., represented by a nearly complete cranium, mandible and partial skeletons of at least three individuals, was recovered from the latest Miocene (∼6.2 Ma) lignite beds of the Shuitangba Site in north-eastern Yunnan Province, south-western China. Computed tomography (CT) restoration of the crushed skull reveals a combination of otter-like and badger-like cranial and dental characteristics. The new species belongs to the Lutrinae because of its possession of a large infraorbital canal and ventral expansion of the mastoid process, among other traits. A distally expanded M1, however, gives a badger-like appearance. In overall morphology the Shuitangba otter is closest to Siamogale thailandica. A previously described jaw (‘Lutra’ aonychoides) from the early Pliocene of the Yushe Basin in north China is also here referred to S. melilutra. No previous attempt has been made to provide a global phylogenetic framework for otters. We present the first combined morphological and molecular (nuclear and mitochondrial DNAs) character matrices of five extant (Pteronura, Lontra, Enhydra, Aonyx, Lutra) and eight extinct genera (Tyrrhenolutra, Paralutra, Paludolutra, Enhydritherium, Siamogale, Vishnuonyx, Sivaonyx, Enhydriodon) to better understand the evolution of bunodont otters. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses consistently recover an eastern Asian clade that includes forms from Shuitangba, Yushe and Mae Moh, all of which are referred to Siamogale. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5C637018-0772-4C78-AA4B-783B71085D9D.
KW - China
KW - Miocene
KW - Southeast Asia
KW - fossil otter
KW - lutrine
KW - phylogeny
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85010653667&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85010653667&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14772019.2016.1267666
DO - 10.1080/14772019.2016.1267666
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85010653667
SN - 1477-2019
VL - 16
SP - 39
EP - 65
JO - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology
JF - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology
IS - 1
ER -