Mega-sized Wolverines? (In the Fossil record...)

[gytalf2000]

So many mammals of today had larger counterparts in times past. Have they ever found fossil evidence of giant wolverines?

[Duckster]

The fossil history of the Mustelidae has not been well documented because most members were small and forest-dwelling (Pasitschniak-Arts and Larivière 1995). The earliest known mustelids were from late Eocene deposits, and a few marten-like animals were found in the Oligocene (Kurtén and Anderson 1980). Towards the end of the Miocene, recognizable martens were present. Quaternary mustelids survived in nearly all habitats from the arctic tundra to tropical rainforests (Kurtén and Anderson 1980).

The largest of the Mustelinae, Gulo, is a holarctic genus specialized for feeding on larger vertebrate prey (Pasitschniak-Arts and Larivière 1995). The wolverine has no exact counterpart in the tropics (Eisenberg 1981). Gulo is descended from Plesiogulo, a large Miocene and Pliocene form (Kurtén and Anderson 1980). The genus Plesiogulo originated in Asia and migrated to North America between 7.0 and 6.5 million years ago (Harrison 1981). Plesiogulo was apparently derived from marten-like ancestors originating from an early Miocene member of the genus Martes (Kurtén 1968).

Source: http://www.wolverinefoundation.org/specacct.htm

The last known Giant Wolverine died in 2006.

[gytalf2000]

Thanks for the “Wolverine Foundation” link. Interesting!