''Algarolutra'' is an extinct endemic genus of

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. The single species ''A. majori'' was originally attributed to the genus ''

Cyrnaonyx ''Cyrnaonyx'' is an extinct genus of Lutrinae, otters from the Pleistocene. It was originally described by Helbing based on materials from France and he also attributed material from Corsica to it. The latter appeared to belong to another speci ...

'' and its

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''C. antiqua'', which was based on fossils from Corsica and also from mainland France. From mainland Europe, only lower dentition was known, whereas from Corsica and Sardinia only upper dentition was known. When a ''Cyrnaonyx antiqua'' fossil with both upper and lower dentition was found in England, it became clear that the species ''majori'' was too different to keep even in the same genus and the genus ''Algarolutra'' was described. appearing to belong to separate genera. ''A. majori'' is known only from very sparse evidence.

Sources

* Malatesta, A. & Willemsen, G. F. 'Algarolutra g.n. established for a fossil otter of the Sardinia island'. ''Geologica Romana'' 25: 285-286 (1986) * Willemsen, G. F., 'A revision of the Pliocene and Quaternary Lutrinae from Europe', ''Scripta Geologica'' vol. 101 (1992). Prehistoric mustelids Pleistocene carnivorans Prehistoric monotypic mammal genera Prehistoric mammals of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1978 Prehistoric carnivoran genera {{paleo-carnivora-stub