Siamogale

Siamogale; Temporal range: Late Miocene-Early Pliocene, 11–5.333 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Lutrinae
Genus:	† Siamogale ; Ginsburg, Ingavat & Tassy, 1983
Species
	† S. melilutra (Wang et al. 2017); ; † S. thailandica (Ginsburg, Ingavat & Tassy, 1983); † S. bounosa (Grohé et al. 2020);

Last updated September 11, 2025

Siamogale is an extinct genus of giant otter from the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene of eastern Asia. Three species are currently known, S. thailandica and S. bounosa from Thailand and S. melilutra from China.^[1]

Palaeoecology

Analysis of the functional morphology of the postcranium of S. melilutra suggests that it occupied a similar ecological niche to the present day Aonyx : a shoreline forager that often moved about on land. It would have been more inhibited by drag when moving through water relative to other otters.^[2]

References

↑ Wang, Xiaoming; Grohé, Camille; Su, Denise F.; White, Stuart C.; Ji, Xueping; Kelley, Jay; Jablonski, Nina G.; Deng, Tao; You, Youshan; Yang, Xin (22 January 2017). "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" . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 16 (1): 39–65. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1267666. ISSN 1477-2019 . Retrieved 8 September 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
↑ Adrian, Brent; Kelley, Jay; Wang, Xiaoming; Ji, Xueping; Su, Denise F. (17 April 2025). "Postcranial functional morphology of the large swamp otter Siamogale melilutra (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora) from northeastern Yunnan, south‐western China". The Anatomical Record . doi:10.1002/ar.25669. ISSN 1932-8486 . Retrieved 8 September 2025– via Wiley Online Library.

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[1] Wang, Xiaoming; Grohé, Camille; Su, Denise F.; White, Stuart C.; Ji, Xueping; Kelley, Jay; Jablonski, Nina G.; Deng, Tao; You, Youshan; Yang, Xin (22 January 2017). "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" . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 16 (1): 39–65. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1267666. ISSN 1477-2019 . Retrieved 8 September 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.

[2] Adrian, Brent; Kelley, Jay; Wang, Xiaoming; Ji, Xueping; Su, Denise F. (17 April 2025). "Postcranial functional morphology of the large swamp otter Siamogale melilutra (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora) from northeastern Yunnan, south‐western China". The Anatomical Record . doi:10.1002/ar.25669. ISSN 1932-8486 . Retrieved 8 September 2025– via Wiley Online Library.

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