''Cyrnaonyx'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of Lutrinae,

otters 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 weas ...

from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological 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 finally confirmed in ...

. 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 species and genus, '' Algarolutra majori''. The only species of ''Cyrnaonyx'' is ''C. antiqua''. It is known from the Pleistocene (Holsteinian to Eemian/

Weichselian The Weichselian glaciation was the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet (the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet) ...

) of Europe: France, Germany, Netherlands, Southern England and probably Italy. The dentition is more robust than in the common otter ''

Lutra ''Lutra'' is a genus of otters, one of seven in the subfamily Lutrinae. Taxonomy and evolution The genus includes these species: Extant species Extinct species *†'' Lutra affinis'' *†'' Lutra bressana '' *†'' Lutra bravardi'' *†'' ...

'' and the diet probably consisted of more crustaceans and less fish, like in modern ''

Aonyx ''Aonyx'' is a genus of otters, containing three species, the African clawless otter, the Congo clawless otter, and the Asian small-clawed otter. The word ''aonyx'' means "clawless", derived from the prefix '' a-'' ("without") and ''onyx'' ( ...

''. The skull was however not arched as in the latter which points to a more aquatic, swimming behaviour.

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 Pleistocene mammals of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1935 Prehistoric carnivoran genera {{paleo-carnivora-stub