Promegaviverra Valenciano, Beech & Bellucci 2026, gen. nov.

GenusPromegaviverraValenciano, Beech & Bellucci gen. nov. Derivation of name. Pro is a Greek prefix meaning early-ancestral. It is interpreted as an ancestral form of the Pliocene and Pleistocene Megaviverra from Eurasia and Africa. Type and only species. Promegaviverra abudhabiensis sp. nov. Diagnosis. As for the type and only species. Differential diagnosis. Differs from the Late Miocene Sahelictis in smaller size, shorter mandibular corpus, less developed of m 1 cingulid, and broader m 1 talonid; Differs from the Pliocene species of Megaviverra in lacking mandibular diastemata, in possessing a shorter p 3, lower p 4, and in lacking a m 1 mesoconid; Differs from the Miocene and Pliocene Vishnuictis spp. (type Vis. salmontanus), in the marked reduction of the c – p 1 and p 1 – p 2 diastemata, longer p 4 relative to the m 1, and a shorter and more slender m 1 talonid; Differs from Civettictis (type C. civetta) in larger size, more slender premolars and molars, proportionally longer p 4 lacking multiple distal accessory cuspids on the distal cingulid, m 1 with less bunodont cusps, taller protoconid, more slender metaconid, and shorter and narrower talonid, with absence of both mesoconid and crista obliqua; Differs from Viverra (type V. zibetha) in larger size, proportionally longer and lower p 4, m 1 lacking mesoconid and crista obliqua, with a more shallow talonid and fewer accessory cuspids on its distal margin.