{{Short description|Extinct species of bear}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Early Pleistocene | image = Ailuropoda microta.jpg | genus = Ailuropoda | species = microta | extinct = yes | authority = Pei, 1962<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pei|first1=Wen-chung |author-link=Pei Wenzhong |title=Guǎngxī liǔchéng jù yuán dòng jí qítā shāndòng de dì sì jì bǔrǔ dòngwù|trans-title=Quaternary Mammals from the Liucheng ''Gigantopithecus'' Cave and Other Caves of Kwangsi|script-title=zh:广西柳城巨猿洞及其他山洞的第四纪哺乳动物 |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica|date=1962|volume=6|issue=3|pages=211–218|url=http://www.ivpp.cas.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwzxz/201003/P020100324531678450394.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pei|first1=Wen-Chung|author-link=Pei Wenzhong|title=Quaternary Mammals From the Liucheng ''Gigantopithecus'' Cave and Other Caves of Kwangsi|journal=Scientia Sinica|date=1963|volume=12|issue=2|pages=221–229|url=http://www.scichina.com:8081/sciAe/fileup/PDF/63ya0221.pdf|access-date=2017-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821173606/http://www.scichina.com:8081/sciAe/fileup/PDF/63ya0221.pdf|archive-date=2017-08-21}}</ref> }}

'''''Ailuropoda microta''''' is the earliest known member of the genus ''Ailuropoda,'' which includes the living giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''). It is the smallest and most primitive member of the genus, with an estimated body mass of around {{Convert|70|kg}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Jiangzuo |first=Qigao |last2=Wang |first2=Deyuan |last3=Zhang |first3=Chunming |last4=Bottazzi |first4=Jean |last5=Kuang |first5=Guangxian |last6=Li |first6=Shijie |last7=Fu |first7=Jiao |last8=Hu |first8=Haiqian |last9=Tong |first9=Haowen |last10=Zhang |first10=Bei |last11=Ilyas |first11=Muhammad |last12=Chen |first12=Zehui |last13=Huang |first13=Shan |last14=Wang |first14=Shiqi |last15=Wang |first15=Yuan |date=2024 |title=Body mass evolution of the Quaternary giant panda coincides with climate change of southern China |url=https://www.the-innovation.org/article/doi/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2024.100096 |journal=The Innovation Geoscience |volume=2 |issue=4 |article-number=100096 |doi=10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2024.100096 |issn=2959-8753|doi-access=free }}</ref> It measured 1&nbsp;m (3&nbsp;ft) in length; the modern giant panda grows to a size in excess of 1.5&nbsp;m (5&nbsp;ft).<ref name=":1" /> The discovery of a nearly complete skull of ''A. microta'' in Guangxi, China, revealed cranial and dental features intermediate between earlier panda ancestors such as ''Ailuractos'' and the living giant panda.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jin |first=Changzhu |last2=Ciochon |first2=Russell L. |last3=Dong |first3=Wei |last4=Hunt, Jr |first4=Robert M. |last5=Liu |first5=Jinyi |last6=Jaeger |first6=Marc |last7=Qizhi |first7=Zhu |title=The first skull of the earlist giant panda |url=https://www.pnas.org/action/cookieAbsent |website=PNAS |language=en |doi=10.1073/pnas.0704198104 |pmc=1904166 |pmid=17578912}}</ref> The shape of its cheek teeth indicates that like the living giant panda they were adapted for herbivory, but the cheek tooth morphology is relatively simple in comparison to the progressively increasingly complex cheek tooth morphology of later ''Ailuropoda'' species, including its direct successor ''Ailuropoda wulingshanensis.''<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jiangzuo |first=Qigao |last2=Huang |first2=Zien |last3=Yu |first3=Chonghan |last4=Tong |first4=Haowen |last5=Zhang |first5=Bei |last6=Hu |first6=Haiqian |last7=Wang |first7=Deyuan |last8=Wang |first8=Shiqi |last9=Liu |first9=Jinyi |date=2025-03-04 |title=Dental shape evolution of the giant panda (Ailuropoda, Ursidae) during the Quaternary |journal=Historical Biology |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=695–701 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2024.2324446 |issn=0891-2963}}</ref> A herbivorous diet for ''A. microta'' has been confirmed by isotopic analysis.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stacklyn |first=Shannon |last2=Wang |first2=Yang |last3=Jin |first3=Chang-zhu |last4=Wang |first4=Yuan |last5=Sun |first5=Fajun |last6=Zhang |first6=Chunfu |last7=Jiang |first7=Shijun |last8=Deng |first8=Tao |date=February 2017 |title=Carbon and oxygen isotopic evidence for diets, environments and niche differentiation of early Pleistocene pandas and associated mammals in South China |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018216306241 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |language=en |volume=468 |pages=351–361 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.12.015|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Wear patterns on its teeth has let to suggestions that it lived on a diet of bamboo, the primary food of the giant panda.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal| last = Jin | first = Changzhu | author2 = Russell L. Ciochon |author-link2=Russell Ciochon |author3=Wei Dong |author4=Robert M. Hunt Jr. |author5=Jinyi Liu |author6=Marc Jaeger |author7=Qizhi Zhu |name-list-style=amp| date = 2007-06-26 | title = The first skull of the earliest giant panda | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 104 | issue = 26 | pages = 10932–10937 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0704198104 | pmid=17578912 | pmc=1904166| bibcode = 2007PNAS..10410932J | doi-access = free }}</ref> However, due its small size, less complex cheek teeth and less powerful jaw muscles (due to the less verticalized occiput region of the skull than the giant panda) has led to suggestions that it may have only consumed leaves, shoots and fruits of bamboo, rather than the highly fibrous stems like living giant panda.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Figueirido |first=Borja |last2=Palmqvist |first2=Paul |last3=Pérez-Claros |first3=Juan A. |last4=Dong |first4=Wei |date=February 2011 |title=Cranial shape transformation in the evolution of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00114-010-0748-x |journal=Naturwissenschaften |language=en |volume=98 |issue=2 |pages=107–116 |doi=10.1007/s00114-010-0748-x |issn=0028-1042|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

''A. microta'' lived during the Early Pleistocene in southern China, around 2.5-1.8 million years ago.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Jin |first=Changzhu |last2=Wang |first2=Yuan |last3=Deng |first3=Chenglong |last4=Harrison |first4=Terry |last5=Qin |first5=Dagong |last6=Pan |first6=Wenshi |last7=Zhang |first7=Yingqi |last8=Zhu |first8=Min |last9=Yan |first9=Yaling |date=December 2014 |title=Chronological sequence of the early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus faunas from cave sites in the Chongzuo, Zuojiang River area, South China |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618213009853 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=354 |pages=4–14 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2013.12.051|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other animals that lived alongside ''Ailuropoda microta'' include the giant ape ''Gigantopithecus blacki'', the chalicothere (ungulates with gorilla-like forelimbs) ''Hesperotherium,'' the elephant relatives ''Sinomastodon jiangnanensis'' and ''Stegodon huananensis,'' the tapir ''Tapirus sanyuanensis,'' the swines ''Sus peii'' and ''Sus xiaozhu,'' the deer ''Cervavitus fenqii'' , the chevrotain ''Dorcabune,'' and the bovid ''Megalovis guangxiensis.''<ref name=":2" />

==References== {{Wikispecies|Ailuropoda microta}} {{Reflist}}

{{Ursidae extinct nav|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q2576461}}

Category:Pliocene bears Category:Pliocene carnivorans Category:Giant pandas Category:Fossil taxa described in 1962 Category:Prehistoric animals of China

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