>1. Naturwissenschaften. 2010 Oct 13. [Epub ahead of print]
>New data on Mustelidae (Carnivora) from Southeast Asia: Siamogale
>thailandica, a peculiar otter-like mustelid from the late middle
>Miocene Mae Moh Basin, northern Thailand.
>Grohe C, Chaimanee Y, de Bonis L, Yamee C, Blondel C, Jaeger JJ.
>Institut International de Paleoprimatologie, Paleontologie Humaine:
>Evolution et Paleoenvironnements (IPHEP, UMR-CNRS 6046), Batiment
>Sciences Naturelles, 40 av. Recteur Pineau, 86022, Poitiers Cedex,
>France
>
>We report new dental remains of Mustelidae from the late middle
>Miocene of Mae Moh Basin, northern Thailand, improving the poor fossil
>record of the family in Southeast Asia. Siamogale thailandica is a
>poorly known mustelid, previously recorded from just a single tooth.
>Here we present over a hundred new specimens attributable to this
>species. S. thailandica shows a combination of primitive and
>convergent features of the dentition that makes its original
>subfamilial assignment to Lutrinae doubtful. Evidence from the dental
>morphology suggests that it belongs to a bunodont otter-like mustelid
>that evolved in convergence with "true" otters (Lutrinae) toward a
>semi-aquatic way of life. Autapomorphic features such as the height
>and the position of the m1 metaconid and the shape of the P4 lingual
>shelf make S. thailandica unique among Mustelidae. The morphology of
>this species is mostly similar to Mionictis species and Lartetictis
>dubia, reported in the Miocene of North America and Europe,
>respectively. These similarities could imply immigration events to
>Thailand in the early or middle Miocene. Alternately, the lineage
>leading to Siamogale might have deeper origins from an endemic early
>Miocene Southeast Asian mustelid.
>PMID: 20941478 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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