Vulpes qiuzhudingi
| Vulpes qiuzhudingi | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Subfamily: | Caninae |
| Tribe: | Vulpini |
| Genus: | Vulpes |
| Species: | †V. qiuzhudingi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Vulpes qiuzhudingi (Wang et. al., 2014)[1] | |
Vulpes qiuzhudingi is an extinct species of fox found in the Himalayas. It was primarily carnivorous.[2] The fossils, dating from between 5.08 and 3.60 million years ago, were found in the Zanda Basin and Kunlun Mountains of Tibet.[3] It was named after Qiu Zhuding, a paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.[2] The species is believed to be the ancestor of Vulpes lagopus, the modern Arctic fox, which would support the "Out of Tibet" theory: namely, that a number of current arctic species trace their ancestry to species originally from the Tibetan Plateau.[4]
References
- ↑ Wang, Xiaoming; Tseng, Zhijie Jack; Li, Qiang; Takeuchi, Gary T.; Xie, Guangpu (11 June 2014). "From ‘third pole’ to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox". Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Royal Society) 281 (1787). doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0893. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- 1 2 Jane Qiu (11 June 2014). "Origins of Arctic fox traced back to Tibet". Nature. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- ↑ Christine Dell'Amore (10 June 2014). "An extinct species of "very carnivorous" fox with supersharp teeth once roamed the frigid Tibetan Plateau, a new study says". National Geographic. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- ↑ ""Out of Tibet" hypothesis: Cradle of evolution for cold-adapted mammals is in Tibet". National Science Foundation. June 11, 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
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