''Ballusia'' is an extinct genus of small bear from the Early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

epoch, about 20.5-18 million years ago. Fossil remains attributed to the genus have been uncovered in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(Poland) and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

(

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

).Baryshnikov G.F. & Lavrov A.V. (2015). "Early Miocene bear ''Ballusia'' (Carnivora, Ursidae) from the locality Khirgis-Nur-I in Mongolia". ''Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS'' 319(3): p. 341–350Sotnikova M, Klementiev A, Sizov A & Tesakov A (2021). "New species of ''Ballusia'' Ginsburg and Morales, 1998 (Ursidae, Carnivora) from Miocene of Eastern Siberia, Russia". ''Historical Biology'' 33(4): p. 486-497
doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2019.1637864
/ref> The genus ''Ballusia'' was established in 1998 on the basis of different fossils originally classified as various species of the genera ''

Ursavus ''Ursavus'' is an extinct genus of bear that existed in North America, Europe, and Asia during the Miocene period, about 23–5.3 million years ago (Mya), existing for roughly . The genus apparently dispersed from Asia into North America abo ...

'' and ''

Hemicyon ''Hemicyon'', also known as the "dog-bear" (literally "half dog", from Greek (half) + (dog)), is an extinct genus of hemicyonine bear, which probably originated in Eurasia but was found in Europe, Asia and North America during the Miocen ...

'',Ginsburg L & Morales G (1998). "Hemicyoninae (Ursidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) and the related taxa from Early and Middle Miocene of Western Europe". ''Annales de Paléontologie'' 84(1): p. 71-123
doi.org/10.1016/S0753-3969(98)80003-7
/ref> with ''B. elmensis'' as the type species. The exact relationship of ''Ballusia'' to "true" bears (subfamily Ursinae, which include modern bears) are not yet fully understood: many palaeontologists have classified it as a primitive member of Ursinae, but its known skeletal elements have some features in common with the extinct bear subfamily

Hemicyoninae Hemicyoninae is an extinct subfamily of Ursidae, often called dog bears (literally "half dog" (Ancient Greek, Greek: )). They were bear-like carnivorans living in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia during the Oligocene through Miocene epoch ...

. Because of this, some researchers refer ''Ballusia'' as "Ursidae '' incertae sedis''". Ginsburg and Morales regarded ''B. elmenensis'' as ancestral to ''

'', as did Marciszak and Lipecki, even though the temporal range of the two genera seems to have overlapped.Marciszak A & Lipecki P (2020). "The history of bears (Ursidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) from Silesia (southern Poland) and the neighbouring areas". ''Geological Quarterly'' 64(4): p
876–897
/ref> Qui Z-X, Deng T & Wang B-Y. (2014). "A Late Miocene ''Ursavus'' skull from Guanghe, Gansu, China". ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'' 52(3): p
265-302
/ref>

Description

''Ballusia'' were smaller than most living bear species: fossil remains of the species ''B. orientalis''Qui >, Yan D, Hang J & Wang B (1985). "Dentition of the ''Ursavus'' skeleton from Shanwang, Shandong Province". ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'' 23: p. 264-275 indicate an animal about the size of a

domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...

with body proportions similar to a

wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

, while ''B. elmenensis'' were the size of a eurasian lynx. It possessed slender legsJiangzuo Q & Flynn J.H. (2020). "The Earliest Ursine Bear Demonstrates the Origin of Plant-Dominated Omnivory in Carnivora". ''IScience'' 23(6)
doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101235
/ref> and also had relatively longer tail than modern bears.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3308205 Miocene bears Miocene mammals of Asia Miocene mammals of Europe Prehistoric carnivoran genera