Peculiar sensorimotor characters inferred from an endocranial cast of Nesolutra ichnusae Malatesta, an endemic Pleistocene otter from Sardinia

This study describes an endocranial cast of Nesolutra ichnusae Malatesta (1977), a species which was founded on a complete skeleton discovered in the 'Grotta di Nettuno', on the NW coast of Sardinia. Endocranial morphology and comparison with fossil and living otters evidenced peculiar expansion of the coronal gyrus, corresponding to the somatic sensory area of the head, and therefore adaptation to aquatic life and swimming more marked than in Lutra lutra and fairly similar to the one of Lutra canadensis.