What is Siamogale melilutra?
{{italictitle}} {{speciesbox | fossil_range = [[Late Miocene]], {{fossilrange|11|5.333}} | image = | genus = Siamogale | species = melilutra | authority = Wang, Grohé, Su, White, Ji, Kelley, You & Yang, 2017 }} '''''Siamogale melilutra''''' was an [[extinct]] [[species]] of giant [[otter]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/enormous-otters-once-roamed-southwestern-china |title=Enormous otters once roamed southwestern China |author=Sid Perkins |date=January 23, 2017 |website=Science AAAS |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref> It is from the late [[Miocene]] [[epoch (geology)|epoch]], from [[Yunnan]] province, [[China]].<ref name=SciNews>{{cite web |url=http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/siamogale-melilutra-giant-otter-04557.html |title=Siamogale melilutra: Giant Otter Fossils Reveal New Species |date=January 23, 2017 |publisher=Sci News |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref> The [[skull]] has a combination of otter-like and [[badger]]-like [[Skull|cranial]] features.<ref name=SciNews/> The new species belongs to the [[Lutrinae]] [[subfamily]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=A new otter of giant size, Siamogale melilutra sp. nov. (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora), from the latest Miocene Shuitangba site in north-eastern Yunnan, south-western China, and a total-evidence phylogeny of lutrines |author=Xiaoming Wang |display-authors = etal |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |year=2018 |volume=16 |pages=39–65 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2016.1267666 |s2cid=58892181 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772019.2016.1267666 }}</ref> ''Siamogale melilutra'' was about the size of a [[wolf]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170123115213.htm |title=Wolf-size extinct otter discovered: 6.24 million years old |author=Cleveland Museum of Natural History |date=January 23, 2017 |publisher=ScienceDaily |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref> It was estimated to about {{convert|50|kg}}.<ref name=SciNew