Panthera shawi

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Panthera shawi
Temporal range: Late Pliocene
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Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species:
P. shawi
Binomial name
Panthera shawi
(Broom, 1948)
Synonyms
  • Felis shawiBroom, 1948
  • Panthera leo shawi

Panthera shawi is an extinct prehistoric cat, of which a single canine tooth was excavated in Sterkfontein cave in South Africa by Robert Broom in the 1940s. It is thought to be one of the oldest known Panthera species in Africa. [1] [2]

Contents

Taxonomy

The original and holotype specimen, a single upper canine tooth from the Bolt's Farm locality, was described by Broom in 1948 as a new species named Felis shawi in honour of Professor Shaw. [3] Further material assigned to the species was recovered from the Kromdraai A and Swartkraans Member 2 localities. [4] [5]

It was later considered a subspecies Panthera leo as Panthera leo shawi by some authors. [6] [7] [8] As of 2022, it was once more elevated to species rank as Panthera shawi. [2]

Description

The canine tooth is about 12 mm (0.47 in) long and considerably larger and thicker at the base than of a modern lion. The tooth crown measures 31 mm × 24 mm (1.22 in × 0.94 in) at the base and is 67.5 mm (2.66 in) long. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felidae</span> Family of mammals

Felidae is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid. The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the domestic cat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lion</span> Large cat native to Africa and Asia

The lion is a large cat of the genus Panthera, native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. The lion is an apex and keystone predator; although some lions scavenge when opportunities occur and have been known to hunt humans, lions typically do not actively seek out and prey on humans.

Panthera is a genus within the family Felidae, and one of two extant genera in the subfamily Pantherinae. It contains the largest living members of the cat family. There are five living species: the jaguar, leopard, lion, snow leopard and tiger, as well as a number of extinct species.

<i>Dinofelis</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Dinofelis is an extinct genus of machairodontine, usually classified in the tribe Metailurini. It was widespread in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America from 5 million to about 1.2 million years ago. Fossils very similar to Dinofelis from Lothagam range back to around 8 million years ago, in the Late Miocene.

<i>Homotherium</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Homotherium is an extinct genus of scimitar-toothed cat belonging to the extinct subfamily Machairodontinae that inhabited North America, South America, Eurasia, and Africa during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs from around 4 million to 12,000 years ago. It was one of the last surviving members of the subfamily alongside the more famous sabertooth Smilodon, to which it was distantly related. It was a large cat, comparable in size to a lion. In comparison to Smilodon, the canines of Homotherium were shorter, and it was probably adapted to running down rather than ambushing prey.

<i>Panthera spelaea</i> Extinct species of lion

Panthera spelaea, commonly known as the cave lion is an extinct Panthera species native to Eurasia and northwest North America during the Pleistocene epoch. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion, with the genetic divergence between the two species estimated at around 500,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the P. spelaea lineage in Eurasia date to around 700,000 years ago. It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion. The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna, and an important apex predator across its range. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. It closely resembled living lions with a coat of yellowish-grey fur, though unlike living lions males appear to have lacked manes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American lion</span> Extinct species of carnivore

The American lion is an extinct pantherine cat native to North America during the Late Pleistocene from around 130,000 to 12,800 years ago. Genetic evidence suggests that its closest living relative is the lion, with the American lion representing an offshoot from the lineage of the largely Eurasian cave lion, from which it is suggested to have split around 165,000 years ago. Its fossils have been found across North America, from Canada to Mexico. It was about 25% larger than the modern lion, making it one of the largest known felids to ever exist, and an important apex predator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantherinae</span> Subfamily of felids

The Pantherinae is a subfamily of the Felidae; it was named and first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917 as only including the Panthera species, but later also came to include the clouded leopards. The Pantherinae genetically diverged from a common ancestor between 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago and 10.67 to 3.76 million years ago.

<i>Megantereon</i> Extinct genus of saber-toothed cat from North America, Eurasia and Africa

Megantereon is an extinct genus of prehistoric machairodontine saber-toothed cat that lived in North America, Eurasia, and Africa. It is closely related to and possibly the ancestor of Smilodon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of lions in Europe</span> Lions in prehistoric and historic Europe

The history of lions in Europe is based on fossils of Pleistocene and Holocene lions excavated in Europe since the early 19th century. The first lion fossil was excavated in southern Germany, and described by Georg August Goldfuss using the scientific name Felis spelaea. It probably dates to the Würm glaciation, and is 191,000 to 57,000 years old. Older lion skull fragments were excavated in Germany and described by Wilhelm von Reichenau under Felis fossilis in 1906. These are estimated at between 621,000 and 533,000 years old. The modern lion inhabited parts of Southern Europe since the early Holocene.

<i>Panthera gombaszoegensis</i> Extinct European jaguar species

Panthera gombaszoegensis, also known as the European jaguar, is a Panthera species that lived from about 2.0 to 0.35 million years ago in Europe. The first fossils were excavated in 1938 in Gombasek Cave, Slovakia. Some records were also reported from Africa and Asia. P. gombaszoegensis was a medium-large sized species that formed an important part of the European carnivore guild for a period of over a million years. Many authors have posited that it is the ancestor of the American jaguar, with some authors considering it the subspecies Panthera onca gombaszoegensis, though the close relationship between the two species has been questioned.

Panthera palaeosinensis was an early Pleistocene species from northern China. It is often incorrectly referenced as the ancestor of the tiger, Panthera tigris, although it shares features with all living large cats. Recent studies place it close to the base of the genus Panthera.

<i>Panthera fossilis</i> Fossil cat

Panthera fossilis, is an extinct species of cat belonging to the genus Panthera, known from remains found in Eurasia spanning the Middle Pleistocene and possibly into the Early Pleistocene.

<i>Puma pardoides</i> Extinct species of felid

Puma pardoides is an extinct prehistoric cat in the cougar genus Puma known from fossils found across Eurasia.

<i>Panthera zdanskyi</i> Extinct species of carnivore

Panthera zdanskyi is an extinct pantherine species, the fossils of which were excavated in Gansu Province, northwestern China. Due to its close relationship with the modern tiger, it is called the Longdan tiger.

<i>Amphimachairodus</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Amphimachairodus is an extinct genus of large machairodonts. It is also a member of the tribe Homotherini within Machairodontinae and is most closely related to such species as Xenosmilus, Homotherium itself, and Nimravides. It inhabited Eurasia, Northern Africa and North America during the late Miocene epoch.

<i>Panthera blytheae</i> Extinct species of mammal

Panthera blytheae is an extinct species of felid which lived during the Early Pliocene of Tibet. It has been initially suggested as the earliest known species of the genus Panthera, though its taxonomic placement has been disputed by other researchers who suggest that it likely belongs to a different genus.

Panthera uncia pyrenaica, also known as the Arago snow leopard or the European snow leopard, is a subspecies of snow leopard that lived during the Middle Pleistocene in southern France.

Panthera principialis is an extinct species in big cat genus Panthera described in 2023 based on fragmentary Pliocene-aged fossils from Laetoli, Tanzania. As the species was the oldest known Panthera species at the time, it was given the specific epithet "principialis", from the Latin word meaning "initial, original, in the beginning".

Puma incurva is an extinct species in genus Puma. It was described based on fossils from the Early Pleistocene-aged Swartkrans site in South Africa.

References

  1. Sabol, M. (2011). "Masters of the lost world: a hypothetical look at the temporal and spatial distribution of lion-like felids". Quaternaire. 4: 229–236.
  2. 1 2 Hemmer, H. (October 19, 2022). "The identity of the lion, Panthera principialis sp. nov., from the Pliocene Tanzanian site of Laetoli and its significance for molecular dating the pantherine phylogeny, with remarks on Panthera shawi (Broom, 1948), and a revision of Puma incurva (Ewer, 1956), the Early Pleistocene Swartkrans "leopard" (Carnivora, Felidae)". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 103 (2): 465–487. Bibcode:2023PdPe..103..465H. doi:10.1007/s12549-022-00542-2.
  3. 1 2 Broom, R. (1948). "Some South African Pliocene and Pleistocene mammals". Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 21 (I): 1–38.
  4. Ewer, R. (1956). "The fossil carnivora of the Transvaal Caves: Felinae". Proceedings of the Zoological Society London. 126: 83–95. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1956.tb00426.x.
  5. Turner, Alan (1990). "Late Neogene/Lower Pleistocene Felidae of Africa: Evolution and Dispersal". Quartärpaläontologie. 8: 247–256.
  6. Kurtén, B. (1960). "The age of the Australopithecinae". Stockholm Contributions in Geology. 6: 9–22.
  7. Hemmer, H. (1967). "Fossilbelege zur Verbreitung und Artgeschichte des Löwen, Panthera leo (Linné, 1758)". Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen. 15: 289–300.
  8. Hemmer, H. (1974). "Untersuchungen zur Stammesgeschichte der Pantherkatzen (Pantherinae). Teil III: Zur Artgeschichte des Löwen – Panthera (Panthera) leo (Linnaeus 1758)". Veröffentlichungen der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München. 17: 167–280.