Ailuropoda

Panda
The giant panda, the only extant species in the genus and subfamily
Ailuropoda fovealis[clarification needed] skull
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Subfamily: Ailuropodinae
Genus: Ailuropoda
Milne-Edwards, 1870
Type species
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
David, 1869
Species

A. baconi
A. melanoleuca
A. microta
A. wulingshanensis

Ailuropoda is the only extant genus in the ursid (bear) subfamily Ailuropodinae. It contains one living and three fossil species of panda.

Only one species—Ailuropoda melanoleuca—currently exists; the other three species are prehistoric chronospecies. Despite its taxonomic classification as a carnivoran, the giant panda has a diet that is primarily herbivorous, which consists almost exclusively of bamboo.

Giant pandas have descended from Ailurarctos, which lived during the late Miocene.

Etymology

Giant panda eye

From Greek αἴλουρος aílouros "cat" + ‒ποδός ‒podós "foot" (gen. sg.). Unlike most bears, giant pandas do not have round pupils, but instead have vertical slits, similar to those of cats. This has not only inspired the scientific name, but in Chinese the giant panda is called "large bear cat" (大熊猫, dà xióngmāo).

Classification

Other pandas

The red, or lesser, panda (Ailurus fulgens) was formerly considered closely related to the giant panda. It is no longer considered a bear, however, and is now classified as the sole living representative of a different carnivore family (Ailuridae).


This page was last updated at 2024-03-25 18:38 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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