Reconstruction of A. nikolovi sp. nov. from Bulgaria. Artwork by Velizar Simeonovski, Chicago Credit: © Velizar Simeonovski, Chicago.
Fossilized teeth initially discovered in the 1970s in fact come from a new, significant close family member of the modern-day huge panda.
A new types of panda has actually been uncovered by researchers who mention it is presently the last recognized and “most progressed” European giant panda. It lumbered through the forested wetlands of Bulgaria around 6 million years earlier.
Discovered from the bowels of the Bulgarian National Museum of Natural History, two fossils of teeth originally discovered in the eastern European nation in the late 1970s, provide new proof of a substantial relative of the contemporary giant panda. Unlike todays iconic black and white bear, however, it was not simply dependent on bamboo for sustenance.
It also took me a long time to recognize that this was an unidentified fossil giant panda.”
” Giant pandas are an extremely specific group of bears,” Professor Spassov adds. “Even if A. niklovi was not as specialized in environments and food as the modern-day huge panda, fossil pandas were specialized enough and their advancement was related to humid, woody habitats. It is most likely that environment change at the end of the Miocene in southern Europe, leading to aridification, had an adverse impact on the existence of the last European panda.”
While this group of animals is best understood by its only living agent, the huge panda, they as soon as ranged throughout Europe and Asia.
” Although not a direct forefather of the modern-day genus of the giant panda, it is its close relative,” describes the Museums Professor Nikolai Spassov, whose findings are released today (August 1, 2022) in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
” This discovery demonstrates how little we still understand about ancient nature and demonstrates also that historical discoveries in paleontology can result in unanticipated results, even today.”
The teeth, an upper carnassial tooth and an upper dog, were initially cataloged by paleontologist Ivan Nikolov. He included them to the museums chest of fossilized treasures after they were unearthed in northwestern Bulgaria decades earlier. This brand-new species is named Agriarctos nikolovi in his honor.
” They had just one label composed vaguely by hand,” recalls Professor Spassov. “It took me numerous years to determine what the area was and what its age was. Then it also took me a long period of time to understand that this was an unidentified fossil giant panda.”
The coal deposits in which the teeth were found– which have actually imbued them with a blackened hue– recommend that this ancient panda occupied forested, swampy regions.
There, throughout the Miocene epoch, it most likely taken in a mostly vegetarian diet plan– but not purely dependent on bamboo!
Fossils of the staple lawn that sustains the modern-day panda are rare in the European fossil record, particularly in the Bulgarian late Miocene period. Furthermore, the cusps of the teeth do not appear strong enough to squash the woody stems.
Instead, it most likely fed on softer plant materials– lining up with the general trend toward increased reliance on plants in this groups evolutionary history.
Sharing their environment with other large predators most likely drove the giant panda family tree toward vegetarianism.
” The most likely competition with other species, especially predators and presumably other bears, describes the better food specialization of giant pandas to vegetable food in humid forest conditions,” specifies Professor Spassov.
A. nikolovis teeth however offered adequate defense versus predators, the paper speculates. In addition, the dogs are similar in size to those of the contemporary panda, suggesting that they belonged to a similarly sized or only somewhat smaller sized animal.
The authors propose that A. nikolovi may have ended up being extinct as a result of climate change, most likely due to the fact that of the Messinian salinity crisis. This occasion, in which the Mediterranean basin dried up, significantly modified the surrounding terrestrial environments.
” Giant pandas are an extremely customized group of bears,” Professor Spassov adds. “Even if A. niklovi was not as specialized in environments and food as the modern-day giant panda, fossil pandas were specialized enough and their development was associated with humid, wooded environments. It is most likely that environment change at the end of the Miocene in southern Europe, leading to aridification, had a negative effect on the presence of the last European panda.”
Co-author Qigao Jiangzuo, from Peking University, China, was primarily accountable in assisting to narrow down the identity of this odd monster to coming from the Ailuropodini– a tribe within the Ursidae bear family. While this group of animals is best understood by its only living representative, the giant panda, they as soon as varied throughout Europe and Asia. Intriguingly, the authors propose 2 possible pathways for the distribution of this group.
Reference: “Discovery of a late Turolian giant panda in Bulgaria and the early advancement and dispersal of panda lineage” 1 August 2022, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.DOI: 10.1080/ 02724634.2021.2054718.
Funding: Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research, Chinese Natural Science Foundation Program, Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Frontier Science Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.