Ursus maritimus tyrannus
| Ursus maritimus tyrannus Temporal range: Late Pleistocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Hypothetical restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Subfamily: | Ursinae |
| Genus: | Ursus |
| Species: | U. maritimus |
| Subspecies: | †U. m. tyrannus |
| Trinomial name | |
| †Ursus maritimus tyrannus Kurtén, 1964 | |
Ursus maritimus tyrannus is an extinct subspecies of polar bear, known from a single fragmentary ulna found in the gravels of the Thames at Kew Bridge, London. It was named by the Finnish paleontologist Björn Kurtén in 1964 and is interpreted to represent a relatively large subadult individual: the ulna is estimated to have been 48.5 cm (19 in) long when complete.[1] For comparison, modern subadult polar bear ulnae are 36–43 cm (14–17 in) long.[1]
An unpublished reinvestigation of the fossil suggests that the fossil is actually a brown bear.[2]
References
- 1 2 Kurtén, B. (1964). "The evolution of the polar bear, Ursus maritimus Phipps". Acta Zoologica Fennica. 108: 1–26.
- ↑ Ingólfsson, Ólafur; Wiig, Øystein (2009). "Late Pleistocene fossil find in Svalbard: the oldest remains of a polar bear (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1744) ever discovered". Polar Research. 28 (3): 455. doi:10.1111/j.1751-8369.2008.00087.x.
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