Vulpes qiuzhudingi | |
---|---|
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Genus: | Vulpes |
Species: | †V. qiuzhudingi
|
Binomial name | |
†Vulpes qiuzhudingi | |
Synonyms | |
Alopex qiuzhudingi |
The ancestral Arctic fox Vulpes qiuzhudingi is an extinct species of fox found in the Himalayas.[2] It was primarily carnivorous.[3] The fossils, dating from between 5.08 and 3.60 million years ago, were found in the Zanda Basin and Kunlun Mountains of Tibet.[4] It was named after Qiu Zhuding, a paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.[3] The species is believed to be the ancestor of Vulpes lagopus, the modern Arctic fox, which would support the "Out of Tibet" theory: namely, that a number of current arctic species trace their ancestry to species originally from the Tibetan Plateau.[5]