Panthera fossilis (also known as Panthera leo fossilis or Panthera spelaea fossilis), is an extinct species of
cat belonging to the
genusPanthera, known from remains found in
Eurasia spanning the
Middle Pleistocene and possibly into the
Early Pleistocene. P. fossilis has sometimes been referred to by the
common namessteppe 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
TanzanianOlduvai 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
Central Europe.[8][10]P. fossilis shrank in body mass over the course of its evolutionary history.[11] Compared to a modern lion, P. fossilis had a slightly wider skull and
nasal cavity, smaller
orbits, less inflated
bullae, less specialized lower teeth, reduced lower
premolars and smaller
incisors.[12]
Taxonomic history
P. fossilis was historically considered an early
lion (P. leo)
subspecies as Panthera leo fossilis.[7] Some authors considered it a subspecies of Panthera spelaea (Panthera spelaea fossilis) or treat it as a distinct species.[13][14] Some employ a subgenus of Panthera, "Leo", to contain several lion-like members of Panthera, including P. leo, P. spelaea, 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]
^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.
^
abSala, B. (1990). "Panthera leo fossilis (v. Reichenau, 1906) (Felidae) de Iserna la Pineta (Pléistocene moyen inférieur d'Italie)". Géobios. 23 (2): 189–194.
doi:
10.1016/S0016-6995(06)80051-3.
^
abcdeSotnikova, M.V. & Foronova, I.V. (2014). "First Asian record of Panthera (Leo) fossilis (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) in the Early Pleistocene of Western Siberia, Russia". Integrative Zoology. 9 (4): 517–530.
doi:
10.1111/1749-4877.12082.
PMID24382145.
^Manuel, M. d.; Ross, B.; Sandoval-Velasco, M.; Yamaguchi, N.; Vieira, F. G.; Mendoza, M. L. Z.; Liu, S.; Martin, M. D.; Sinding, M.-H. S.; Mak, S. S. T.; Carøe, C.; Liu, S.; Guo, C.; Zheng, J.; Zazula, G.; Baryshnikov, G.; Eizirik, E.; Koepfli, K.-P.; Johnson, W. E.; Antunes, A.; Sicheritz-Ponten, T.; Gopalakrishnan, S.; Larson, G.; Yang, H.; O’Brien, S. J.; Hansen, A. J.; Zhang, G.; Marques-Bonet, T.; Gilbert, M. T. P. (2020).
"The evolutionary history of extinct and living lions". PNAS. 117 (20): 10927–10934.
Bibcode:
2020PNAS..11710927D.
doi:10.1073/pnas.1919423117.
PMC7245068.
PMID32366643.
^Marciszak, A.; Schouwenburg, C.; Darga, R. (2014). "Decreasing size process in the cave (Pleistocene) lion Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) evolution – A review". Quaternary International. Fossil remains in karst and their role in reconstructing Quaternary paleoclimate and paleoenvironments. 339–340: 245–257.
Bibcode:
2014QuInt.339..245M.
doi:
10.1016/j.quaint.2013.10.008.
^Schoetensack, O. (1908). Der Unterkiefer des Homo heidelbergensis aus den Sanden von Mauer bei Heidelberg. Ein Beitrag zur Paläontologie des Menschen. Leipzig: Engelmann.