A new paradoxurine carnivore from the Late Miocene Siwaliks of India and a review of the bunodont viverrids of Africa [Un nouveau carnivore paradoxuriné du Miocène supérieur des Siwaliks (Inde) et une révision des viverridés bunodontes d'Afrique]

摘要

Paradoxurine carnivores are today confined to south-east Asia. Fossils attributed to. Paradoxurus have been reported from Pakistan, southern China and Java, but seldom with descriptions. Here we describe and interpret a mandible from the Late Miocene of Hari Talyangar, India, which we attribute to a new genus and species: Mioparadoxurus meini. The phylogenetic analysis shows a close relationship between the Asiatic Paradoxurinae (represented in the analysis by. M. meini nov. gen., nov. sp. and. Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and the most bunodont forms from Africa (. Pseudocivetta howelli and. Pseudocivetta ingens). In accordance with the results of this analysis, the Paradoxurinae are subdivided into three tribes, Paradoxurini, Pseudocivettini nov. and Kichechiini nov. The subfamily had a wider geographic distribution during the Miocene than it does today. The African fossil record indicates that forms related to Paradoxurinae may have developed in Africa about 18 Ma. These data are consistent with the divergence between Paradoxurinae from the rest of the Viverridae, estimated by molecular data as Early Miocene.