Ailuropoda baconi
| Ailuropoda baconi Temporal range: Late Pleistocene
| |
|---|---|
| Skull (IVPP V4715), Paleozoological Museum of China | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Genus: | Ailuropoda |
| Species: | †A. baconi
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Ailuropoda baconi (Woodward, 1915)
| |
Ailuropoda baconi is an extinct species or subspecies of bear known from cave deposits in South China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand spanning the Middle and Late Pleistocene and into the Middle Holocene. It is the direct ancestor of the living giant panda (A. melanoleuca). It was preceded by A. wulingshanensis. Its distinctiveness from the living giant panda is disputed, and it has been argued that it should be treated as a paleosubspecies of the giant panda as A. melanoleuca baconi.