A review of the Asian Semigenetta Helbing, 1927 (Viverridae, Feliformia, Carnivora) with a description of two new species, Semigenetta qiae n. sp. from South China and Semigenetta thailandica n. sp. from Thailand

Semigenetta Helbing, 1927 is a small genet-like carnivoran in the family Viverridae Gray, 1821. The genus has a modest diversity in the Miocene of Eurasia. With its first documentation going back to 1850s, the European records are relatively continuous with five currently recognized species. Asian records have a much shorter history of studies with its first record, S. huaiheensis Qiu & Gu, being published in 1986. In the present paper, we review the Asian records of Semigenetta from China and Thailand, which so far are represented by three species based on fragmentary jaws and teeth. We recognize two new species, S. qiae n. sp. from the late Miocene (c. 6.2-6.9 Ma) of Lufeng Basin in central Yunnan Province, South China and S. thailandica n. sp. from the middle Miocene (13.4-13.2 Ma) of Mae Moh Basin in Lampang Province, northern Thailand. Zoogeographically, both S. huaiheensis and S. thailandica n. sp. seem traceable to their European ancestors, as independent immigration events. Semigenetta thailandica n. sp. may have given rise to S. qiae n. sp., i.e., S. thailandica n. sp. and S. qiae n. sp., both recovered from lignitic sediments, potentially form a southeast Asian clade. All Asian Semigenetta occur within the Oriental zoogeographic province, and like their European counterparts, presumably prefer warm, humid, and wooded environments. Their relatively conservative morphology and low diversity seem also indicative of a stable environment in subtropical refugia. Semigenetta qiae n. sp. from Lufeng is the last survivor of the genus in Asia.