| Puma pardoides Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
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| Skull | |
 | |
| Life reconstruction | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Felinae |
| Genus: | Puma |
| Species: | †P. pardoides |
| Binomial name | |
| †Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Puma pardoides is an extinct prehistoric cat belonging to the genus Puma known from fossils found across Eurasia during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs.
Puma pardoides was originally described in 1846 as Felis pardoides. [1] A complete skull, described in 1954 as Panthera schaubi, [2] was reassigned in 1965 to a new genus as Viretailurus schaubi due to distinct differences from other pantherine cats. [3] However, in 2001, it was proposed that various puma-like fossils found in Eurasia could all be attributed to a single species: Puma pardoides. [4] [5] In 2004, Viretailurus schaubia was also determined to be a junior synonym of Puma pardoides. [6]
Panthera schaubi or Viretailurus schaubi was historically often regarded as a basal member of the genus Panthera . [7] However, research in 2004 concluded that Viretailurus should actually be included in the genus Puma as a junior synonym of Puma pardoides. [8] Fossils of this leopard-sized animal are around 2 million years old and were found in France. However, their classification was difficult, due to the similarities between leopards and pumas, until teeth found at the Upper Pliocene Transcaucasian site of Kvabebi were found to be similar to those of pumas. [6] It is inferred that the species, Puma pardoides is related to living pumas, which can be supported by Eurasian origin of the puma lineage. [9]
Hemmer 2004 estimates that Puma pardoides weighed between 35–100 kg (77–220 lb). [10] The cranial and postcranial bones of P. pardoides were more robust than those of the living cougar (Puma concolor). [9]
P. pardoides is known from fossils unearthed in England, [1] France, [2] Germany, [11] Spain, [9] Italy, [12] Greece, [13] and Georgia. [6]
Much like cougars, Puma pardoides was probably a solitary ambush hunter, and it is believed ungulates weighing 10–45 kg (22–99 lb) and 180–360 kg (400–790 lb) were secondary prey for P. pardoides. [14] Evidence from the site of Untermassfeld suggests that P. pardoides extensively preyed on cervids. [11]
In the earliest Pleistocene (2.6-2 million years ago) of Europe, Puma pardoides lived alongside the hyenas Pliocrocuta and Chasmaporthetes, the sabertooth cats Megantereon and Homotherium, the giant cheetah Acinonyx pardinensis , the primitive lynx Lynx issiodorensis , the bear Ursus etruscus , the early wolf ancestor Canis etruscus , and the wild dog Xenocyon. In the late Early Pleistocene (~2-1 million years ago), Chasmaporthetes and Pliocrocuta became extinct, with this time period seeing the arrival of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta and the "European jaguar" Panthera gombaszogensis . [15]
The last known occurrences of Puma pardoides are from about 0.85 Ma. The extinction of this felid may have had something to do with the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. [16]
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