Eoarctos vorax (Wang et al. 2023, Early Oligocene) nests with Nandinia and was the same size.

Distinct from Vulvapus, the skull of Nandinia is relatively larger and wider with a larger cranium. The upper jaw line is concave ventrally. A bulla is present surrounding the tiny ear bones. In dorsal view a median occipital bone can be seen dividing the parietals at the back of the skull. The lumbar region of the spine is longer. The sacral region is shorter. The tail is longer.

The scapula is slightly longer than tall. Manual digit I is greatly reduced. The remaining four digits are nearly symmetrical. The manual unguals are larger. Manual ungual 1 is much deeper than its penultimate phalanx.

The pelvis is slightly shorter with a larger obturator foramen. The femur is convex dorsally. The calcaneal heel is reduced. The distal tarsals are reduced. The pedal digits are shorter due to shorter penultimate phalanges.

Like primates, civets use their ‘hands’ to grab prey or fruit before biting it. Unlike other civets, the omnivore, Nandinia, is active for a few hours after dusk and before sunrise. It relies on stealth rather than speed to capture prey. It drops out of trees in play. It also descends tree trunks like a squirrel, head first.

Mesocyon coryphaeus (Scott 1890, Oligocene, 30mya, North America) nests with Nandinia and Gustafson as a basal member of Carnivora. Here the largely missing zygomatic arch (= jugal + squamosal) is also reconstructed with an arch, as in related taxa.

Prionodon linsang (Hardwicke 1821; 35cm + 36cm tail) is the extant banded linsang. This nocturnal predator feeds on birds, snakes and rats. Note the long neck. This is a sister to Mesocyon from the Palaeocene.

Gray J 1830. Spicilegia Zoologica. 12 pp. Treüttel, Würtz, London.

Gray J 1844. List of specimens of Mammalia of the British Museum 216 pp. (p. 54) British Museum, London.

Gustafson EP 1986. Carnivorous mammals of the late Eocene and early Oligocene of Trans-Pecos Texas. Texas Memorial Museum Bulletin 33: 1-64.

Hardwicke T 1821. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. vol.13 p.236, pl. 24.

Scott WB 1890. Notes on the nomenclature of some North American fossil... Princeton College Bulletin 2:37-39.

Wang X et al (5 co-authors) 2023. An exquisitely preserved skeleton of Eoarctos vorax (nov. gen. et sp.) from Fitterer Ranch, North Dakota (early Oligocene) and systematics and phylogeny of North American early arctoids (Carnivora, Caniformia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 42:sup1, 1-123, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2022.2145900

wiki/Nandinia
wiki/Miacis
wiki/Mesocyon
wiki/Banded_linsang - Prionodon
wiki/Eoarctos