It is first known from the very Late Pliocene and survived until the end of the Villafranchian, and is most commonly recorded from deposits between 2.6 and 1.4 Ma.

Remains of Pannonictis have been found throughout Eurasia, from the Iberian Peninsula to eastern China.

In fact, the small species known as P. pilgrimi is now often considered merely a female form of the larger P. pliocaenica.

P. nestii was the smallest and most slender species of the genus as well as the latest surviving member.

[2] An otter-like aquatic lifestyle for Pannonictis is not likely, but it has been suggested it inhabited areas near river courses, much like their phylogenetic descendant, the living grison.