Puma pardoides
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Puma pardoides is an extinct prehistoric cat in the genus Puma known from fossils found across Eurasia.
History and naming
Puma pardoides was originally described in 1846 as Felis pardoides.[1] A complete skull was described in 1954 as Panthera schaubi,[2] but was assigned in 1965 to a new genus as Viretailurus schaubi due to distinct differences from other pantherine cats.[3] In 2001, however, it was pointed out that the various puma-like fossils in Eurasia could all be attributed to a single species, Puma pardoides.[4][5] And in 2004, Viretailurus schaubia was also found to be a junior synonym of Puma pardoides.[6]
Classification
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.[6][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]
Description
Hemmer 2004 estimates that Puma pardoides weighed between Template:Cvt.[10] The cranial and postcranial bones of P. pardoides were more robust than Puma concolor.[9]
Paleobiology
Much like cougars, Puma pardoides was probably a solitary ambush hunter, and its believed ungulates weighing Template:Cvt and Template:Cvt were secondary prey for P. pardoides.[11]
Extinction
The last 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.[12]
References
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