The red panda, also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle and a ringed tail. Its head-to-body length is 51–63.5 cm (20.1–25.0 in) with a 28–48.5 cm (11.0–19.1 in) tail, and it weighs between 3.2 and 15 kg. It is well adapted to climbing due to its flexible joints and curved semi-retractile claws.
Proailurus is an extinct felid genus that lived in Europe and Asia approximately 25-30.8 million years ago in the Late Oligocene and Miocene. Fossils have been found in Mongolia, Germany, and Spain.
Pseudaelurus is a prehistoric cat that lived in Europe, Asia and North America in the Miocene between approximately twenty and eight million years ago. It is considered to be a paraphyletic grade ancestral to living felines and pantherines as well as the extinct machairodonts (saber-tooths), and is a successor to Proailurus. It originated from Eurasia and was the first cat to reach North America, when it entered the continent at about 18.5 Ma ending a 'cat-gap' of 7 million years. The slender proportions of the animal, together with its short, viverrid-like legs, suggest that it may have been an agile climber of trees.
Ailurinae is a subfamily of Ailuridae. While it is represented by the extant genus Ailurus, there were a handful of genera whose fossils have been found across the Holarctic region. These include the Middle Miocene Magerictis of Spain, the Early Pliocene Pristinailurus of the United States of America and their sister taxon Parailurus of Eurasia and North America in the Pliocene. Unlike Ailurus which is a specialized arboreal bamboo forager, the extinct ailurine species were more generalized and spent their time foraging on the ground.
Nimravidae is an extinct family of carnivorans, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, whose fossils are found in North America and Eurasia. Not considered to belong to the true cats, the nimravids are generally considered closely related and classified as a distinct family in the suborder Feliformia. Fossils have been dated from the Middle Eocene through the Late Miocene epochs, spanning about 33.2 million years.
Ailuridae is a family in the mammal order Carnivora. The family consists of the red panda and its extinct relatives.
Amphicyon is an extinct genus of large carnivorans belonging to the family Amphicyonidae, subfamily Amphicyoninae, from the Miocene epoch. Members of this family received their vernacular name for possessing bear-like and dog-like features. They ranged over North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Simocyon is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America and Africa.
Carodnia is an extinct genus of South American ungulate known from the Early Eocene of Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. Carodnia is placed in the order Xenungulata together with Etayoa and Notoetayoa.
Asiavorator is an extinct genus of civet-like carnivoran belonging in the family Stenoplesictidae. It was endemic to Asia and lived during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs.
Dermotherium is a genus of fossil mammals closely related to the living colugos, a small group of gliding mammals from Southeast Asia. Two species are recognized: D. major from the Late Eocene of Thailand, based on a single fragment of the lower jaw, and D. chimaera from the Late Oligocene of Thailand, known from three fragments of the lower jaw and two isolated upper molars. In addition, a single isolated upper molar from the Early Oligocene of Pakistan has been tentatively assigned to D. chimaera. All sites where fossils of Dermotherium have been found were probably forested environments and the fossil species were probably forest dwellers like living colugos, but whether they had the gliding adaptations of the living species is unknown.
Djebelemur is an extinct genus of early strepsirrhine primate from the late early or early middle Eocene period from the Chambi locality in Tunisia. Although they probably lacked a toothcomb, a specialized dental structure found in living lemuriforms, they are thought to be a related stem group. The one recognized species, Djebelemur martinezi, was very small, approximately 100 g (3.5 oz).
Styriofelis is an extinct genus of Felidae known from the Miocene of Europe.
Parailurus is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. It was about 50% larger than Ailurus and lived in the early to late Pliocene Epoch, and its fossils have been found in Europe, North America, and Japan.
Sivanasua is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal found across Miocene Europe including Germany, Austria, France, Spain and the Czech Republic. Like other lophocyonids, Sivanasua had unusual lophodont dentition, meaning the molars had ridges across the grinding surface of the molars, an adaptation believed to be indicative of a herbivorous diet.
Amphictis is an extinct genus of ailurid that existed from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene with fossils found in Eurasia and North America with a total of nine described species. The interrelationships of the different species as well as their relationship to the other ailurids is not fully understood. Usually Amphictis is classified in the basal monotypic subfamily Amphictinae, but there is not certain as the genus could potentially be a paraphyletic with the Oligocene species A. borbonica being a potential sister taxon to the ancestor of the subfamily Ailurinae, while a Middle Miocene clade consisting of an anagenesis line from A. prolongata–to–A. wintershofensis–to–A. cuspida being closer to the ancestry of the now extinct Simocyoninae. This is due to the nature of their plesiomorphic nature of their anatomy.
Actiocyon was an extinct genus of ailurid that existed from the Middle Miocene of North America. The type species, Actiocyon leardi, was described in 1947 by the American paleontologist Chester Stock.
Magerictis is a fossil genus of ailurid with a single species Magerictis imperialenis, which was originally known from a single m2 tooth. Several more specimens were later found, but were undescribed as of 2014.
Protursus is a fossil genus of ailurid with a single species Protursus simpsoni, known from a single left m2 tooth.
Magerifelis is an extinct genus of feline with only one species assigned to it, Magerifelis peignei. It was described in 2024 based on seven fossils from the middle Miocene of Spain and France.
