Amphictis
{{Short description|Genus of extinct carnivore}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Late Oligocene|Middle Miocene}}
| image = Amphictis antiqua.JPG
| image_caption = Skull of Amphictis antiqua
| display_parents = 2
| parent_authority = Winge, 1896
| taxon = Amphictis
| authority = Pomel, 1853
| type_species = †Amphictis antiqua
| type_species_authority = (de Blainville, 1842)
| subdivision_ranks = Other Species
| subdivision = {{Species list|
†Amphictis ambigua|(Gervais, 1872)|
†Amphictis borbonica|Viret, 1929|
†Amphictis cuspida|Nagel, 2003|
†Amphictis milloquensis|(Helbing, 1928)|
†Amphictis prolongata|Morlo, 1996|
†Amphictis schlosseri|Heizmann & Morlo, 1994|
†Amphictis timucua|Baskin, 2017|
†Amphictis wintershofensis|Roth, 1994}}
}}
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.{{cite journal|author-first=Jon A. |author-last=Baskin |year=2017 |title=Additional carnivorans from the early Hemingfordian Miller Local Fauna, Florida |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=37 |issue=2 |page=e1293069 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2017.1293069 |bibcode=2017JVPal..37E3069B |s2cid=90182619 }} The interrelationships of the different species as well as their relationship to the other ailurids is not fully understood.{{cite book |title=Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on Phylogeny, Form, and Function |author-last1=Morlo |author-first1=Michael |author-last2=Peigné |author-first2=Stéphane |editor1-first=Anjali |editor1-last=Goswami |editor2-first=Anthony |editor2-last=Friscia |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-73586-5 |pages=92–140 |chapter=Molecular and morphological evidence for Ailuridae and a review of its genera |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139193436.005}} Usually Amphictis is classified in the basal monotypic subfamily Amphictinae, but there is no certainty 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 (today consisting just the red panda), 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 (with A. wintershofensis being the sister taxon to the clade). This is due to the nature of their plesiomorphic nature of their anatomy.
Taxonomy
The first and type species was originally described as Viverra antiqua in 1842,{{Cite book |last1=de Blainville |first1=Henri Marie Ducrotay |date=1842 |title= Ostéographie ou description iconographique comparée du squelette et du système dentaire des cinq classes d'animaux vertébrés récents et fossiles: pour servir de base a la zoologie et a la géologie |location=Paris |publisher=J.B. Baillière et fils}} but was assigned to a new genus Amphictis in 1853.{{Cite journal|last1=Pomel|first1=Auguste|title=Catalogue des vertébrés fossiles (suite) |journal=Ann Scient Litt Ind Auvergne |volume=26 |date=1853 |pages=81–229}} A second species, Amphictis ambigua (sometimes spelled A. ambiguus) was described in 1872.{{cite journal |last=Gervais |first=Paul |date=1872 |title=Mammifères dont les ossements accompagnent les dépôts de chaux phosphatée des départements du Tarn-et-Garonne et du Lot |trans-title= |url= |language=French |journal=Journal de Zoologie |volume=1 |issue= |pages=261–268 |doi= |access-date=}} Another three species, A. japonica, A. sarsi, and A. wyvillei, were described in 1885,{{cite journal |last=McIntosh |first=William C. |date=1885 |title=Report on the Annelida Polychæta collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76 |url= |journal=Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873–76, Zoology |volume=12 |issue=34 |pages=i–xxxvi; 1–554; Pls. 1–55, 1a–39a |doi= |access-date=}} but have since been reassigned or synonymized.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} Further species described include A. milloquensis in 1928,{{cite book |last=Helbing |first=Hermann |date=1928 |title=Carnivoren des oberen Stampien |trans-title= |url= |publisher=Birkhäuser }} A. borbonica in 1929,{{cite journal |last=Viret |first=Jean |date=1929 |title=Les faunes de Mammifères de líOligocène supérieur de la Limagne bourbonnaise |trans-title= |url= |language=French |journal=Annales de l'Université de Lyon |series=Nouvelle série, 1 Sciences, médecine |volume=47 |issue= |pages=1–328 |doi= |access-date=}} A. schlosseri and A. wintershofensis both in 1994,{{cite journal |last1=Heizmann |first1=Elmar P. J. |last2=Morlo |first2=Michael |date=1994 |title=Amphictis schlosseri n. sp. – eine neue Carnivoren-Art (Mammalia) aus dem Unter-Miozän von Südwestdeutschland |trans-title= |url= |language= |journal=Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde |series=Serie B (Geologie und Palaeontologie) |volume=216 |issue= |pages=1–25 |doi= |access-date=}}Roth (1994) in Heizmann and Morlo (1994) (op. cit.) and A. prolongata in 1996.{{cite journal |last=Morlo |first=Michael |date=1996 |title=Carnivoren aus dem Unter-Miozän des Mainzer Beckens |trans-title= |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03042850 |language= |journal=Senckenbergiana Lethaea |volume=76 |issue= 1–2|pages=193–249 |doi=10.1007/BF03042850 |s2cid=131401280 |access-date=}}
Another species, A. aginensis, was described in 1973{{cite journal |last=Bonis |first=L. de |date=1973 |title=Contribution à l'étude des mammifères de l'Aquitanien de l'Agenais. Rongeurs — Carnivores — Périssodactyles |trans-title= |url= |language= |journal=Mémoires du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle |volume=28 |issue= |pages=1–192 |doi= |access-date=}} but was reassigned to the genus Stromeriella in 1996. An eighth species, A. cuspida, was described in 2003{{cite journal |last=Nagel |first=D. |date=2003 |title=Carnivora from the middle Miocene hominoid locality of Çandir (Turkey) |url= |journal=Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg |volume=240 |pages=113–132 |doi= |access-date=}} and a ninth, A. timicua, in 2017.
References
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{{Musteloidea|Mea.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q65144472|from2=Q11905381|from3=Q120416105|from4=Q120416118|from5=Q120416138|from6=Q120416147|from7=Q120416150|from8=Q120416153|from9=Q120416159|from10=Q120416163|from11=Q120416174}}
Category:Prehistoric carnivoran genera