Puma pardoides

Owen's panther
Skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Puma
Species: P. pardoides†
Binomial name
Puma pardoides†
(Owen, 1846)
Synonyms

Felis pardoides Owen, 1846
Panthera pardoides (Owen, 1846)
Panthera schaubi Viret, 1954
Viretailurus schaubi (Viret, 1954)

Puma pardoides or Owen's panther is an extinct prehistoric cat. It was long regarded as a primitive species of leopard (genus Panthera). Recent work[1] however has shown that Panthera pardoides and Panthera schaubi are actually the same species, and are probably not pantherine at all, but a member of Felinae related to the cougar, making them more properly classified as Puma pardoides.

Classification

Panthera schaubi or Viretailurus schaubi was historically often regarded as a basal member of the genus Panthera.[2] However, recent work[3][4] has shown that Viretailurus should actually be included in the genus Puma as a junior synonym of Puma pardoides. Fossils of this leopard-sized animal are around 2 million years old and were found in France.

References

  1. ↑ 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 fur Geologie und Palaontologie, Abhandlungen 233, 197-233.
  2. ↑ A. Turner: The big cats and their fossil relatives. Columbia University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-231-10229-1
  3. ↑ "Pumas of South Africa, cheetahs of France, jaguars of England", Tetrapod Zoology, referring to Hemmer et al. 2004
  4. ↑ 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 fur Geologie und Palaontologie, Abhandlungen 233, 197-233.
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