<P> It is not a bear, nor closely related to the giant panda, nor a raccoon, nor a lineage of uncertain affinities . Rather it is a basal lineage of musteloid, with a long history of independence from its closest relatives (skunks, raccoons, and otters / weasels / badgers). </P> <P> The two subspecies are A. f. fulgens and A. f. styani . However, the name Ailurus fulgens refulgens is sometimes incorrectly used for A. f. styani . This stems from a lapsus made by Henri Milne - Edwards in his 1874 paper "Recherches pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des mammifères comprenant des considérations sur la classification de ces animaux", making A. f. refulgens a nomen nudum . The most recent edition of Mammal Species of the World still shows the subspecies as A. f. refulgens . This has been corrected in more recent works, including A guide to the Mammals of China and Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Volume 1: Carnivores . </P> <P> The red panda is considered a living fossil and only distantly related to the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), as it is naturally more closely related to the other members of the superfamily Musteloidea to which it belongs . The common ancestor of both pandas (which also was an ancestor for all living bears; pinnipeds like seals and walruses; and members of the family Musteloidea like weasels and otters) can be traced back to the Early Tertiary period tens of millions of years ago, with a wide distribution across Eurasia . </P> <P> Fossils of the extinct red panda Parailurus anglicus have been unearthed from China in the east to Britain in the west . In 1977, a single tooth of Parailurus was discovered in the Pliocene Ringold Formation of Washington . This first North American record is almost identical to European specimens and indicates the immigration of this species from Asia . In 2004, a tooth from a red panda species never before recorded in North America was discovered at the Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee . The tooth dates from 4.5--7 million years ago . This species, described as Pristinailurus bristoli, indicates that a second, more primitive ailurine lineage inhabited North America during the Miocene . Cladistic analysis suggests that Parailurus and Ailurus are sister taxa . Additional fossils of Pristinailurus bristoli were discovered at the Gray Fossil Site in 2010 and in 2012 . The frequency with which panda fossils are being found at Gray Fossil Site suggests the species played a large role in the overall ecosystem of the area . </P>

When did the red panda first appear on earth