SUMMER 2003 No. 17

Page 7

One candidate is ‘The Hundsheim Otter’ Lutra simplicidens, fossils of whom were found initially in Austria in the 1960s and subsequently from Middle Pleistocene deposits in western and central Europe. Remains resemble Lutra lutra except that teeth are more primitive while limbs are more specialised and robust; for some experts these peculiarities discount L. simplicidens from direct lineage to the modern European otter.

Fossils attributed to Lutra lutra first materialise in the Late Pleistocene in Weimar, Germany, and are relatively common, though incomplete, across Late Pleistocene Europe, with possible fragments also known from north Africa. The suddenness of the modern otter’s appearance is interesting; suggesting it might have migrated into Europe around this time, just over 75 000 years ago.

However where it may have migrated from is a palaeontological conundrum. The absence of both a plausible evolutionary antecedent and living relatives from adjacent continents presents a problem to this theory. Some scientists are more sceptical, considering claimed Pleistocene finds as either L. simplicidens or impossible to ascribe to species because of the incompleteness of the specimens.

A final part of this puzzle is the European Otter’s nearest living relative – the American River Otter L. canadensis. Could this be our European otter’s ancestor? It seems not: L. canadensis has a long Pleistocene history of its own and some of its morphological features are more specialised, so it is unlikely to be ancestral to L. lutra (in fact this implies it is more probably the other way round).

So after 65 million years in the library I end my chronological journey on a mystery. But it was an enjoyable trip. It was fascinating to find out that our otter may have migrated to Europe whilst the clawless otters of contemporary Africa have a more ancient pedigree here, and that Europe was once home to Megalenhydris, maybe the largest sea otter that ever lived. Somewhere lie future fossil otter finds, further pieces of this bony jigsaw, waiting to be discovered.

Stephen Carroll