Ursus etruscus

Etruscan bear Temporal range: Early Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossils
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Genus:	Ursus
Species:	†U. etruscus
Binomial name
†Ursus etruscus Cuvier, 1823

The Etruscan bear (Ursus etruscus) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Europe, Asia, and North Africa during the Early Pleistocene, living from approximately 2.2 million to around 1.4-1.2 million years ago. ^[1]

Skull

Taxonomy

The Etruscan bear appears to have evolved from Ursus minimus and gave rise to the modern brown bear, Ursus arctos , and the extinct cave bear, Ursus spelaeus . ^[2] The range of Etruscan bears was mostly limited to continental Europe, with specimens also recovered in the Great Steppe region of Eurasia. Fossil evidence for the Etruscan bear was recovered in Palestine, Greece, ^[3] Croatia, and Tuscany, Italy. ^[4]

Some scientists have proposed that the early, small variety of U. etruscus of the middle Villafranchian era survives in the form of the modern Asian black bear. ^[5]

Morphology

Not unlike the brown bears of Europe in size, it had a full complement of premolars, a trait carried from the genus Ursavus .

Ecology

Ursus etruscus, like modern brown bears, is suggested to have been omnivorous, ^[6] with the diet of some populations suggested to heavily include fish. ^[7]

Fossil distribution

Sites and specimen ages:

• Vassiloudi, Macedonia Greece ~5.3–1.8 Ma.
• Obigarm, Tajikistan ~5.3–1.8 Ma.
• Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco ~3.6–1.8 Ma.
• Pardines, Auvergne, France ~2.5–1.8 Ma.
• Dmanisi, Georgia ~1.8–0.8 Ma.
• Mestas de Con, Cangas de Onis, Asturias, Spain ~1.8–0.1 Ma. ^[8]
• Strmica, Croatia ~1.8–0.1 Ma. ^[9]

References

1. Gimranov, Dmitry; Lavrov, Alexander; Prat-Vericat, Maria; Madurell-Malapeira, Joan; Lopatin, Alexey V. (3 June 2023). "Ursus etruscus from the late Early Pleistocene of the Taurida сave (Crimean Peninsula)". Historical Biology. 35 (6): 843–856. Bibcode:2023HBio...35..843G. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2067993. ISSN   0891-2963.
2. de Torres Pérez-Hidalgo, Trinidad José (1992). "The European descendants of Ursus etruscusC. Cuvier (Mammalia, Carnivora, Ursidae)". Boletín del Instituto Geológico y minero de España. 103 (4): 632–642.
3. Koufos, George D.; Konidaris, George E.; Harvati, Katerina (20 December 2018). "Revisiting Ursus etruscus (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Early Pleistocene of Greece with description of new material". Quaternary International . The Gates of Europe. 497: 222–239. Bibcode:2018QuInt.497..222K. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.043. ISSN   1040-6182 . Retrieved 18 January 2024– via Elsevier Science Direct.
4. Petrucci, Mauro; Sardella, Raffaele (January 2009). "Ursus etruscus Cuvier, 1823 from the Early Pleistocene of Monte Argentario (Southern Tuscany, Central Italy)". Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana. 48 (2): 89–94. Retrieved 14 February 2025– via ResearchGate.
5. Herrero, Stephen (6–9 November 1970). "Aspects of evolution and adaptation in American black bears (Ursus americanusPallas) and brown and grizzly bears (U. arctosLinné) of North America" (PDF). Bears: Their Biology and Management. Second International Conference on Bear Research and Management. IUCN Publications New Series no. 23. Vol. 2. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: International Association for Bear Research and Management (published 1972). pp. 221–231. doi:10.2307/3872586. JSTOR   3872586 . Retrieved 12 December 2020.
6. Mateos, Ana; Hölzchen, Ericson; Rodríguez, Jesús (January 2024). "Sabretooths, giant hyenas, and hominins: Shifts in the niche of Early Pleistocene scavengers in Iberia at the Epivillafranchian-Galerian transition". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 634: 111926. Bibcode:2024PPP...63411926M. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111926.
7. Medin, Tsegai; Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido; Rivals, Florent; Madurell-Malapeira, Joan; Ros-Montoya, Sergio; Espigares, María-Patrocinio; Figueirido, Borja; Rook, Lorenzo; Palmqvist, Paul (February 2017). "Late Villafranchian Ursus etruscus and other large carnivorans from the Orce sites (Guadix-Baza basin, Andalusia, southern Spain): Taxonomy, biochronology, paleobiology, and ecogeographical context". Quaternary International. 431: 20–41. Bibcode:2017QuInt.431...20M. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.053.
8. "Mestas de Con". Paleobiology Database. Cangas de Onis collection. collection list 49211. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012.
9. "Tiglian fauna". Paleobiology Database. Strmica collection. collection list 40502. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. sediments containing Early Pleistocene or Tiglian fauna.

Further reading

• Hanni, Catherine; Laudet, Vincent; Stehelin, Dominique; Taberleto, Pierre (December 1994). "Tracking the origins of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) by mitochondrial DNA sequencing" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 91 (25): 12336–12340. Bibcode:1994PNAS...9112336H. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.25.12336 . PMC   45432 . PMID   7991628 . Retrieved 10 April 2021.