Puma pardoides

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Puma pardoides
Temporal range: Pliocene-Pleistocene
Puma schaubi.JPG
Skull
De vroeg-pleistocene sabeltandkat, Homotherium crenatidens (2008) Puma pardoides.png
Life reconstruction
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Puma
Species:
†P. pardoides
Binomial name
†Puma pardoides
(Owen, 1846)
Synonyms
  • Felis pardoidesOwen, 1846
  • Panthera schaubiViret, 1954
  • Viretailurus schaubi(Viret, 1954) sensu Hemmer, 1964

Puma pardoides is an extinct prehistoric cat belonging to the genus Puma known from fossils found in Europe and West Asia during the late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene epochs, spanning from around 3 million to 800,000 years ago. [1]

Contents

Research history and taxonomy

Puma pardoides was originally described in 1846 by Richard Owen as Felis pardoides. [2] A complete skull, described in 1954 as Panthera schaubi, [3] was reassigned in 1965 to a new genus as Viretailurus schaubi due to distinct differences from other pantherine cats. [4] However, in 2001, it was proposed that various puma-like fossils found in Eurasia could all be attributed to a single species: Puma pardoides. [5] [6] In 2004, Viretailurus schaubia was also determined to be a junior synonym of Puma pardoides. [7]

Panthera schaubi or Viretailurus schaubi was historically often regarded as a basal member of the genus Panthera . [8] However, research in 2004 concluded that Viretailurus should actually be included in the genus Puma as a junior synonym of Puma pardoides. [9] Some authors have continued to consider Viretailurus the correct genus for this species. [1] 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. [7] It is generally considered that Puma pardoides is closely related to the living cougar (Puma concolor, also known as the puma or mountain lion), which has lent support to the idea of a Eurasian origin of the cougar lineage. [10]

Description

Hemmer (2004) estimated that Puma pardoides weighed between 35–100 kg (77–220 lb), [11] comparable but more similar to large individuals of the living cougar. [12] The cranial and postcranial bones of P. pardoides were more robust than those of the living cougar. [10]

Distribution and chronology

P. pardoides is known from fossils unearthed in Britain (Red Crag), [13] [2] France, [3] Germany, [14] Romania, [15] Spain, [10] Italy, [16] Greece, [17] and Georgia [7] The oldest fossils are known from the late Pliocene, around 3.07 million years ago, while the youngest specimen dates to near end of the Early Pleistocene, around 860,000 years ago. [1]

Paleobiology

Much like cougars, Puma pardoides was probably a solitary ambush hunter with an estimated preferred prey mass of around 45–180 kg (99–397 lb), with smaller and larger prey of 10–45 kg (22–99 lb) and 180–360 kg (400–790 lb) respectively probably being taken less often. [12] Evidence from the late Early Pleistocene site of Untermassfeld in Germany suggests that at this locality P. pardoides extensively preyed on deer (Cervidae). Suggested prey species include the extinct roe deer Capreolus cusanoides, and the fallow deer-sized species Cervus nestii. At Untermassfeld it is also suggested to have hunted wild boar (Sus scrofa). [14]

Paleoecology

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. [18]

Extinction

The last known occurrences of Puma pardoides are from about 0.85 Ma. The extinction of this felid (which also coincided with the extinction of other carnviores, including Pachycrocuta, Megantereon, and Xenocyon [18] ) may have been result of significant climatic change in Europe as part of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. [19] Following the extinction of P. pardoides, its ecological niche was taken over by the European leopard (Panthera pardus), which arrived in Europe around the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. [18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Madurell-Malapeira, Joan (2025). "A critical review of the Pliocene and Pleistocene European Felidae fossil record". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 64 (1): 133–163. doi:10.4435/BSPI.2025.08 (inactive 3 September 2025). ISSN   0375-7633.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of September 2025 (link)
  2. 1 2 Owen, Richard (1846). A History of British Fossil Mammals, and Birds. London: John Van Voorst. OCLC   4425335.
  3. 1 2 Viret, J. (1954). "Le loess à bancs durcis de Saint-Vallier (Drôme) et sa faune de mammifères villafranchiens". Nouvelles archives du Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Lyon. 4: 1–200. doi:10.3406/mhnly.1954.986.
  4. ↑ Hemmer, H. (1964). "Studien an "Panthera schaubi" Viret aus dem Villafranchien von Saint-Vallier (Drôme)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen . 122: 324–336.
  5. ↑ Hemmer, H. (2001). "Die Feliden aus dem Epivillafranchium von Untermassfeld". In Kahlke, R. D. (ed.). Das Pleistozän von Untermassfeld bei Meiningen (Thüringen). Bonn: Römisch-Germaisches Zentralmuseum. pp. 699–782.
  6. ↑ Cherin, Marco; Iurino, Dawid A.; Sardella, Raffaele (2013). "Earliest occurrence of Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846) (Carnivora, Felidae) at the Plio/Pleistocene transition in western Europe: New evidence from the Middle Villafranchian assemblage of Montopoli, Italy". Comptes Rendus Palevol . 12 (3): 165–171. Bibcode:2013CRPal..12..165C. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2013.01.002.
  7. 1 2 3 Hemmer, H.; Kahlike, R. D.; Vekua, A. K. (2004). "The Old World puma Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846) (Carnivora: Felidae) in the Lower Villafranchian (Upper Pliocene) of Kvabebi (East Georgia, Transcaucasia) and its evolutionary and biogeographical significance". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen . 233: 197–233. doi:10.1127/njgpa/233/2004/197.
  8. ↑ Turner, Alan; Anton, Mauricio (1997). The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives. Columbia University Press. ISBN   0-231-10229-1.
  9. ↑ "Pumas of South Africa, cheetahs of France, jaguars of England". Tetrapod Zoology.
  10. 1 2 3 Madurell-Malapeira, Joan (2010). "The Iberian record of the puma-like cat Puma pardoides" . Comptes Rendus Palevol . 9 (1–2). doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2009.12.002.
  11. ↑ Hemmer, H. (2004). "Notes on the ecological role of European cats (Mammalia: Felidae) of the last two million years". Miscelánea en Homenaje a Emiliano Aguirre, Museo Arqueológico Regional (in Spanish). pp. 214–232.
  12. 1 2 Rodríguez, Jesús; Rodríguez-Gómez, Guillermo; Martín-González, Jesús Angel; Goikoetxea, Idoia; Mateos, Ana (1 December 2012). "Predator–prey relationships and the role of Homo in Early Pleistocene food webs in Southern Europe" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 365–366: 99–114. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.09.017 . Retrieved 4 September 2025– via Elsevier Science Direct.
  13. ↑ Turner, Alan (December 2009). "The evolution of the guild of large Carnivora of the British Isles during the Middle and Late Pleistocene". Journal of Quaternary Science. 24 (8): 991–1005. doi:10.1002/jqs.1278. ISSN   0267-8179.
  14. 1 2 Kahlke, Ralf-Dietrich; Gaudzinski, Sabine (August 2005). "The blessing of a great flood: differentiation of mortality patterns in the large mammal record of the Lower Pleistocene fluvial site of Untermassfeld (Germany) and its relevance for the interpretation of faunal assemblages from archaeological sites" . Journal of Archaeological Science . 32 (8): 1202–1222. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.03.004 . Retrieved 7 September 2025– via Elsevier Science Direct.
  15. ↑ Werdelin, Lars; DrăGuşIn, Virgil; Robu, Marius; Petculescu, Alexandru; Popescu, Aurelian; Curran, Sabrina; E. Terhune, Claire (6 September 2023). "Carnivora From the Early Pleistocene of Grăunceanu (Olteț River Valley, Dacian Basin, Romania)" (PDF). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 129 (3). doi:10.54103/2039-4942/20015. ISSN   2039-4942 . Retrieved 3 October 2025– via Diva Portal.
  16. ↑ Cherin, Marco; Iurino, Dawid A.; Sardella, Raffaele (March 2013). "Earliest occurrence of Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846) (Carnivora, Felidae) at the Plio/Pleistocene transition in western Europe: New evidence from the Middle Villafranchian assemblage of Montopoli, Italy" . Comptes Rendus Palevol . 12 (3): 165–171. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2013.01.002 . Retrieved 3 September 2025– via Elsevier Science Direct.
  17. ↑ Koufos, George D.; Grohé, Camille; de Bonis, Louis; Moutrille, Léa; Costeur, Loic; Surault, Jérôme; Kostopoulos, Dimitris S.; Merceron, Gildas (1 July 2025). "Felines from the middle Villafranchian (Early Pleistocene) mammal fauna of Dafnero 3, Greece" . Historical Biology : 1–20. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2524712. ISSN   0891-2963 . Retrieved 6 September 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
  18. 1 2 3 Konidaris, George E. (7 September 2022). "Guilds of large carnivorans during the Pleistocene of Europe: a community structure analysis based on foraging strategies". Lethaia . 55 (2): 1–18. doi: 10.18261/let.55.2.5 . ISSN   0024-1164.
  19. ↑ Palombo, Maria Rita (19 May 2016). "Large Mammals Faunal Dynamics in Southwestern Europe During the Late Early Pleistocene: Implications for the Biochronological Assessment and Correlation of Mammalian Faunas". Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary. 29 (2): 143–168. Retrieved 25 February 2024– via ResearchGate.
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