Ballusia

Ballusia 'was a

genus of small bear from the Early Miocene epoch, about 20.5-18 million years ago. Fossil remains attributed to the genus have been uncovered in Europe (Poland) and Asia (Russia, Mongolia, China).[1][2] The genus Ballusia was established in 1998 on the basis of different fossils originally classified as various species of the genera Ursavus and Hemicyon,[3] with B. elmensis as the type species.

Ballusia
Temporal range:
Life restoration of B. orientalis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: †Ballusia
Ginsburg & Morales, 1998
Type species
†Ballusia elmensis
Species
  • †B. elmensis (Stehlin, 1917)
  • †B. orientalis (Qui et.al., 1985)
  • †B. hareni (Ginsburg, 1989)
  • †B. zhegalloi Sotnikova, 2021

The exact relationship of Ballusia to "true" bears (subfamily Ursinae, which include modern bears) are not yet fully understood: many palaeontologists have classified it as a primitive member of Ursinae, but its known skeletal elements have some features in common with the extinct bear subfamily Hemicyoninae. Because of this, some researchers refer Ballusia as "Ursidae incertae sedis". Ginsburg and Morales regarded B. elmenensis as ancestral to Ursavus,[3] as did Marciszak and Lipecki, even though the temporal range of the two genera seems to have overlapped.[4] [5]

Description

Ballusia were smaller than most living bear species: fossil remains of the species B. orientalis[6] indicate an animal about the size of a domestic cat with body proportions similar to a wolverine, while B. elmenensis were the size of a eurasian lynx.[4] It possessed slender legs[7] and also had relatively longer tail than modern bears.

References
  1. Baryshnikov G.F. & Lavrov A.V. (2015). "Early Miocene bear Ballusia (Carnivora, Ursidae) from the locality Khirgis-Nur-I in Mongolia". Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 319(3): p. 341–350
  2. Sotnikova M, Klementiev A, Sizov A & Tesakov A (2021). "New species of Ballusia Ginsburg and Morales, 1998 (Ursidae, Carnivora) from Miocene of Eastern Siberia, Russia". Historical Biology 33(4): p. 486-497. doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2019.1637864
  3. Ginsburg L & Morales G (1998). "Hemicyoninae (Ursidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) and the related taxa from Early and Middle Miocene of Western Europe". Annales de Paléontologie 84(1): p. 71-123. doi.org/10.1016/S0753-3969(98)80003-7
  4. Marciszak A & Lipecki P (2020). "The history of bears (Ursidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) from Silesia (southern Poland) and the neighbouring areas". Geological Quarterly 64(4): p. 876–897
  5. Qui Z-X, Deng T & Wang B-Y. (2014). "A Late Miocene Ursavus skull from Guanghe, Gansu, China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica 52(3): p. 265-302
  6. Qui >, Yan D, Hang J & Wang B (1985). "Dentition of the Ursavus skeleton from Shanwang, Shandong Province". Vertebrata PalAsiatica 23: p. 264-275
  7. Jiangzuo Q & Flynn J.H. (2020). "The Earliest Ursine Bear Demonstrates the Origin of Plant-Dominated Omnivory in Carnivora". IScience 23(6): doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101235
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