Scientists once debated how to classify the red panda. Today, how has analysis of the genome of the red panda provided evidence for the most useful classification?

According to scientists in some countries, the latest DNA research located the red panda in its own independent family, the ailurids (Ailuridae). Ailurids are themselves part of the large superfamily Musteloidea, which also includes the Mephitidae, Mustelidae and Procyonidae families, but, unlike the giant panda, it is not a bear (Ursidae).

The taxonomic classification of red panda and giant panda has been the subject of debate for many decades, as it has characteristics of both bears and raccoons. However, they are only distantly linked by a common ancestor of the first Tertiary period. Its common ancestor dates back tens of millions of years, with a wide distribution in Eurasia.

Explanation:

Musteloids (Musteloidea) are a carnivorous mammalian superfamily united by distributed characters of the skull and teeth. Musteloids share a common ancestor with pinnipeds, specifically phocids, the family to which seals belong. Musteloids consist of the families Ailuridae (red pandas), Mustelidae (mustelids: weasels), Procyonidae (protionids: raccoons and relatives) and Mephitidae (skunks). In North America, the ursoids and musteloids appear first in the Chadronian (Upper Eocene). In Europe, ursoids and musteloids first appear in the lower Oligocene immediately following the great Stehlin break. The Musteloidea superfamily may not be a monophyletic group. Some or all of the diagnostic characters may have evolved into two or more independent radiations from primitive ursoids such as Amphicynodon.