Panthera fossilis

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Panthera fossilis
Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene
↓
Skull from Azé, France
Life restoration
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species:
†P. fossilis
Binomial name
†Panthera fossilis
(Reichenau, 1906)
Synonyms
  • Panthera leo fossilis
  • Panthera spelaea fossilis

Panthera fossilis (also known as Panthera leo fossilis or Panthera spelaea fossilis), is an extinct species of

Middle Pleistocene and possibly into the Early Pleistocene. P. fossilis has sometimes been referred to by the common names steppe lion or cave lion,[1] though these names are conventionally restricted to the later related species P. spelaea,[2] to which P. fossilis is probably ancestral.[3]

Discoveries

It was first described from remains

excavated near Mauer in Germany.[4] Bone fragments of P. fossilis were also excavated near Pakefield in the United Kingdom, which are estimated at 680,000 years old.[5] In Poland, remains of P. fossilis have been found at various sites dating to between 750,000 to 240,000 years ago.[6] Bone fragments excavated near Isernia in Italy are estimated at between 600,000 and 620,000 years old.[7] The first Asian record of a fossilis lion was found in the Kuznetsk Basin in western Siberia and dates to the late Early Pleistocene.[8]

Evolution

P. fossilis is estimated to have evolved in Eurasia about 600,000 years ago from a large pantherine cat that originated in the Tanzanian Olduvai Gorge about 1.2–1.7 million years ago. This cat entered Eurasia about 780,000–700,000 years ago and gave rise to several lion-like forms. The first fossils that can be definitively classified as P. fossilis date to 610,000 years ago. Recent nuclear genomic evidence suggest that interbreeding between modern lions and all Eurasian fossil lions took place up until 500,000 years ago, but by 470,000 years ago, no subsequent interbreeding between the two lineages occurred.[9][8]

Characteristics

Bone fragments of P. fossilis indicate that it was larger than the modern lion and was among the largest cats. Skeletal remains of P. fossilis populations in Siberia measure larger than those in

bullae, less specialized lower teeth, reduced lower premolars and smaller incisors.[12]

Taxonomic history

P. fossilis was historically considered an early

P. atrox and P. fossilis.[8] A 2022 study concluded that P. fossilis and P. spelaea represented a chronospecies lineage, with most differences between the two species explainable by size differences.[3]

Results of

mitochondrial genome sequences derived from two Beringian specimens of Panthera spelaea indicate that it and Panthera fossilis were distinct enough from the modern lion to be considered separate species.[15]

Palaeobiology

This lion coexisted with early humans and prehistoric fauna.[16] A mandible from the early hominid Homo heidelbergensis was excavated in 1907 at Mauer, Germany.[17]

fallow deer. Sympatric predators included bears, wolves, hyenas and saber-toothed cats.[16][8][10]

See also

References

  1. S2CID 243319924
  2. doi:10.1155/2014/106203
    .
  3. ^
    S2CID 251855356
    .
  4. ^ Reichenau, W. V. (1906). "Beiträge zur näheren Kenntnis der Carnivoren aus den Sanden von Mauer und Mosbach". Abhandlungen der Großherzoglichen Hessischen Geologischen Landesanstalt zu Darmstadt. 4 (2): 125.
  5. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.06.022
    .
  6. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.12.018
    . Retrieved 22 March 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  7. ^
    doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(06)80051-3
    .
  8. ^
    PMID 24382145
    .
  9. PMID 32366643
    .
  10. ^
    PMID 15012963
    .
  11. ISSN 1064-7554
    . Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  12. doi:10.14446/AMNP.2014.59
    .
  13. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0117
    .
  14. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.10.008
    .
  15. hdl:10576/22920
    .
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-1861897350
    .
  17. ^ Schoetensack, O. (1908). Der Unterkiefer des Homo heidelbergensis aus den Sanden von Mauer bei Heidelberg. Ein Beitrag zur Paläontologie des Menschen. Leipzig: Engelmann.
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