斑林狸头骨外部特征的骨骼学初步观察
收稿日期: 2025-07-08
网络出版日期: 2025-10-27
基金资助
科技基础资源调查专项(2023YF100905);中国科学院战略性先导科技专项(B类)(XDB26000000)
Preliminary exterior skull osteology of Prionodon pardicolor
Received date: 2025-07-08
Online published: 2025-10-27
林狸(Prionodon)是一种生活在东南亚及中国南方热带-亚热带森林中的小型树栖猫型食肉类。一些基于软组织、牙齿和颅基部的形态学证据支持将其归入灵猫科(Viverridae)的林狸亚科(Prionodontinae)或灵猫亚科(Viverrinae)中。然而，分子生物学证据不仅将林狸排除在灵猫科之外，还支持它们与猫科构成姐妹群，单独构成林狸科(Prionodontidae)。因此，对林狸以及相关类群的头骨进行骨骼学研究，有助于更好地理解形态学和分子生物学证据在重建猫型亚目(Feliformia)系统发育过程中所起的作用。2020年7月的野外调查于广西崇左市郊的一处溶洞内偶然发现了一具斑林狸(Prionodon pardicolor)标本。为了对这种神秘的小型猫型食肉类有更多的了解和认识，在此对斑林狸头骨外部特征逐一进行骨骼学描述。其颅骨与牙齿的形态特征为斑林狸和灵猫亚科之间存在更近的系统发育关系提供了有力证据。不过，由于形态学和分子学方法都各自有其固有的局限性，在仅基于其中一种方法推断猫型亚目系统发育关系时需格外谨慎。
王一朵 , 潘越 , 张颖奇 . 斑林狸头骨外部特征的骨骼学初步观察[J]. 古脊椎动物学报, 2026 , 64(1) : 74 -99 . DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.2096-9899.251027
Linsangs (Prionodon Horsfield, 1822) are small, arboreal feliform carnivorans that live in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia and southern China. Several lines of morphological evidence from the soft tissues, dentition, and basicranium support their placement in either Prionodontinae or Viverrinae of Viverridae. However, molecular evidence has not only excluded the linsangs from Viverridae but also established that they constitute a monogeneric family Prionodontidae sister to Felidae. For that reason, the examination of the skull osteology of linsangs and related taxa is necessary to better understand how morphological and molecular data - particularly morphology - have contributed to the reconstruction of the Feliformia phylogeny. During the summer field season in July of 2020, we stumbled across the carcass of a spotted linsang (P. pardicolor) in a karst cave on the outskirts of Chongzuo City. To contribute to the knowledge about the morphology of this enigmatic feliform carnivoran, we present a preliminary description of the exterior skull osteology of P. pardicolor. The craniodental morphology provides strong evidence for a closer phylogenetic relationship between P. pardicolor and Viverrinae. However, since both morphological and molecular approaches have inherent limitations, caution is urged when inferring feliform phylogeny based on either discipline alone.
Key words： Chongzuo; modern; Prionodontidae; Feliformia; skull; morphology; convergent evolution
| [1] | Flynn J J, Galiano H, 1982. Phylogeny of Early Tertiary Carnivora, with a description of a new species of Protictis from the Middle Eocene of Northwestern Wyoming. Am Mus Novit, 2725: 1-64 |
| [2] | Gaubert P, 2009. Family Prionodontidae (linsangs). In: Wilson D E, Mittermeier R A eds. Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Vol. 1. Carnivores. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. 170-173 |
| [3] | Gaubert P, Veron G, 2003. Exhaustive sample set among Viverridae reveals the sister-group of felids: the linsangs as a case of extreme morphological convergence within Feliformia. Proc R Soc B - Biol Sci, 270: 2523-2530 |
| [4] | Gray J E, 1864. A revision of the genera and species of viverrine animals (Viverridae), founded on the collection in the British Museum. Proc Zool Soc London, 1864: 502-579 |
| [5] | Gregory W K, Hellman M, 1939. On the evolution and major classification of the civets (Viverridae) and allied fossil and recent Carnivora: a phylogenetic study of the skull and dentition. Proc Am Philos Soc, 81(3): 309-392 |
| [6] | Horsfield T, 1822. Zoological Researches in Java, and the Neighbouring Islands, pt. 5. London: Kingsbury, Parbury, & Allen. 1-328 |
| [7] | Hunt R M, 1998. Evolution of the aeluroid Carnivora: diversity of the earliest aeluroids from Eurasia (Quercy, Hsanda-Gol) and the origin of felids. Am Mus Novit, 3252: 1-65 |
| [8] | Hunt R M, 2001. Basicranial anatomy of the living linsangs Prionodon and Poiana (Mammalia, Carnivora, Viverridae), with comments on the early evolution of aeluroid canivorans. Am Mus Novit, 3330: 1-24 |
| [9] | Hunt R M, Tedford R H, 1993. Phylogenetic relationships within the aeluroid Carnivora and implications of their temporal and geographic distribution. In: Szalay F S, Novacek M J, McKenna M C eds. Mammal Phylogeny: Placentals. New York: Springer-Verlag. 53-73 |
| [10] | Jiang Z, Ma Y, Wu Y et al., 2015. China’s Mammal Diversity and Geographic Distribution. Beijing: Science Press. 1-400 |
| [11] | Jiangzuo Q G, Zhang B, Deng L et al., 2018. Fossil Carnivora (Mammalia) from Yangjiawan Cave 2, Pingxiang, Jiangxi, with remarks about the tooth identification of quaternary carnivores. In: Dong W ed. Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Beijing: China Ocean Press. 119-146 |
| [12] | Johnson W E, Eizirik E, Pecon-Slattery J et al., 2006. The Late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: a genetic assessment. Science, 311: 73-77 |
| [13] | Kaelin C B, McGowan K A, Hutcherson A D et al., 2024. Ancestry dynamics and trait selection in a designer cat breed. Curr Biol, 34: 1506-1518 |
| [14] | Liu S, Wu Y, Li S, 2019. Handbook of the Mammals of China. 2nd ed. Fuzhou: The Straights Publishing & Distributing Group. 1-604 |
| [15] | McKenna M C, Bell S K, 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. New York: Columbia University Press. 1-640 |
| [16] | Mivart S G, 1882. On the classification and distribution of the Ailuroidea. Proc Zool Soc London, 1882: 135-208 |
| [17] | de Muizon C, Lange-Badré, 1997. Carnivorous dental adaptations in tribosphenic mammals and phylogenetic reconstruction. Lethaia, 30: 353-366 |
| [18] | Pan Q, Wang Y, Yan K, 2007. A Field Guide to the Mammals of China. Beijing: China Forestry Publishing House. 1-420 |
| [19] | Pocock R I, 1915. XLIII. - On some external characters of the genus Linsang, with notes upon the genera Poiana and Eupleres. Ann Mag Nat Hist, Ser 8, 16: 341-351 |
| [20] | Pocock R I, 1933. The rarer genera of oriental Viverridae. Proc Zool Soc London, 1933: 969-1035 |
| [21] | Schneider C A, Rasband W S, Eliceiri K W, 2012. NIH image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis. Nat Meth, 9: 671-675 |
| [22] | Simpson G G, 1945. The principles of classification and a classification of mammals. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist, 85: 1-350 |
| [23] | Smith A T, Xie Y, 2009. A Guide to the Mammals of China. Changsha: Hunan Education Publishing House. 1-671 |
| [24] | Solé F, Ladevèze S, 2017. Evolution of the hypercarnivorous dentition in mammals (Metatheria, Eutheria) and its bearing on the development of tribosphenic molars. Evol Dev, 19(2): 56-68 |
| [25] | Veron G, 2010. Phylogeny of the Viverridae and ‘Viverrid-like’ feliforms. In: Goswami A, Friscia A eds. Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on Phylogeny, Form, and Function. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 64–91 |
| [26] | Veron G, Heard S, 2000. Molecular systematics of the Asiatic Viverridae (Carnivora) inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome sequence analysis. J Zool Syst Evol Res, 38(4): 209-217 |
| [27] | Wei F, 2022. Taxonomy and Distribution of Mammals in China. Beijing: Science Press. 1-622 |
| [28] | Werdelin L, Yamaguchi N, Johnson W E et al., 2010. Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae). In: Macdonald D W, Loveridge A J eds. Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids. New York: Oxford University Press. 59-82 |
| [29] | Wible J R, Spaulding M, 2013. On the cranial osteology of the African palm civet, Nandinia binotata (Gray, 1830) (Mammalia, Carnivora, Feliformia). Ann Carnegie Mus, 82(1): 1-114 |
| [30] | Wilson D E, Mittermeier R A, 2009. Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Vol. 1. Carnivores. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. 1-727 |
| [31] | Wozencraft W C, 1993. Order Carnivora. In: Wilson D E, Reeder D M eds. Mammal Species of the World-a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 2nd ed. Washington, London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 279-348 |
| [32] | Wozencraft W C, 2005. Order Carnivora. In: Wilson D E, Reeder D M eds. Mammal Species of the World-a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 532-628 |
/
| 〈 |
|
〉 |