Ailuropoda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Carnivora
Family:Ursidae
Panda
The giant panda, the only extant species in the genus and subfamily
Ailuropoda fovealis (=A. melanoleuca baconi=[1]) skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Subfamily: Ailuropodinae
Genus: Ailuropoda
Milne-Edwards, 1870[2][3]
Type species
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
David, 1869[4]
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 one or more fossil species of panda.[1][5]

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.[5]

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 [citation needed], but in Chinese the giant panda is called "large bear cat" (大熊猫, dà xióngmāo).

Classification

Other pandas

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI