祖熊屬(學名:Ursavus)是熊科已滅絕的一個屬,生活於2300萬至530萬年前中新世的北美和歐亞大陸[2][3],是現代熊屬生物的祖先[4]。它在2000萬年前從亞洲大陸遷徙到北美[5]

祖熊屬
化石時期:23–5.3 Ma
科學分類 編輯
界: 動物界 Animalia
門: 脊索動物門 Chordata
綱: 哺乳綱 Mammalia
目: 食肉目 Carnivora
科: 熊科 Ursidae
屬: 祖熊屬 Ursavus
Schlosser, 1899
模式種
Ursavus brevirhinus
Hofmann, 1887
Species[1]
  • Ursavus brevirhinus (Hofmann, 1887)
  • Ursavus primaevus (Gaillard, 1899)
  • Ursavus intermedius (Koenigswald, 1925)
  • Ursavus pawniensis (Frick, 1926)
  • Ursavus ehrenbergi (Brunner, 1942)
  • Ursavus sylvestris (Qiu & Qi, 1990)
  • Ursavus isorei (Ginsburg & Morales, 1998)
  • Ursavus tedfordi (Zhanxiang et al., 2014)

該屬共發現11種,總體來看,其體型小,與現代的相似。[4] 黎明熊(U. elmensis[6]是該屬第一個種[7][8]。但後來它和U. depereti一起被劃出本屬,黎明熊分入安盧熊屬(Ballusia),後者則被分入郊熊貓屬(Agriarctos[4]

2006年7月中國甘肅臨夏回族自治州廣河縣官坊鄉槐溝村發現的戴氏祖熊(U. tedfordi)的頭骨化石,為世界上首次發現的完整祖熊頭骨[1][4]。1985年山東臨朐縣山旺發現的東方祖熊(U. orientalis)化石保存情況也很好[9]。但有研究者認為東方祖熊其實不屬於祖熊屬,而是屬於安盧熊屬[1]

參考文獻

  1. ^ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Qiu, Zhan-Xiang; et al. A Late Miocene Ursavus skull from Guanghe, Gansu, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 2014, 52 (3): 265–302. 
  2. ^ Kurten, Bjorn. Pleistocene bears of North America I: Genus Tremarctos, spectacled bears. Acta Zool. Fenn. 1966, 115: 1–120. 
  3. ^ Crusafont, M.; Kurten, B. Bears and bear-dogs from the Vallesian of the Valles-Penedes basin, Spain. Acta Zool. Fenn. 1976, 144: 1–29. 
  4. ^ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 古脊椎動物與古人類研究所. 古脊椎所发现现生熊类的最近祖先化石. 中國科學院. 2014-08-04 [2021-06-04]. (原始內容存檔於2021-06-05). 
  5. ^ Zhanxiang, Qiu. Dispersals of Neogene carnivorans between Asia and North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 2003, 279 (279): 18–31. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2003)279<0018:C>2.0.CO;2. 
  6. ^ Derocher, Andrew E.; Ian Stirling. Factors affecting the evolution and behavioral ecology of the modern bears. Bears: Their Biology and Management. A selection of papers from the Eighth International Conference on Bear Research and Management. February 1989, 8: 189–204 (1990). JSTOR 3872919. 
  7. ^ McLellan, Bruce. A review of bear evolution (PDF). [Proceedings of the] International Conference on Bear Research and Management. 1994, 9 (1): 85–96 [2021-06-04]. (原始內容存檔 (PDF)於2017-11-15). 
  8. ^ Derocher, A. E.; Lynch, W. Polar Bears: A complete guide to their biology and behavior. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2012. 
  9. ^ Yang, Hong; Shipu Yang. The Shanwang fossil biota in eastern China: a Miocene Konservat-Lagerstätte in lacustrine deposits. Lethaia. December 1994, 27 (4): 345–354. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1994.tb01585.x.