Panthera spelaea (European/Eurasian cave lion‭)

Pan-fee-rah lee-oh spe-lay-ah.
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Maeve Foster

Paleoclimatologist

Maeve Foster explores the Earth's climatic past to understand the forces that shaped life on our planet. Her research into ancient climate events provides valuable context for current environmental challenges.

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Name

Panthera spelaea.

Phonetic

Pan-fee-rah lee-oh spe-lay-ah.

Named By

Georg August Goldfuss‭ ‬-‭ ‬1810.

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Carnivora,‭ ‬Felidae,‭ ‬Panthera.

Diet

Carnivore.

Species

Size

1.2‭ ‬meters high at the shoulder,‭ ‬2.1‭ ‬meters long,‭ ‬but some remains indicate a slightly larger size.

Known locations

Across Eurasia.

Time Period

Late Ionian to Tarantian of Pleistocene.‭ ‬Sometimes noted to have survived into the Holocene till about‭ ‬1‭ ‬CE.

Fossil representation

Multiple specimens.

In Depth

Further Reading

– The Pleistocene cave lion, Panthera spelaea (Carnivora, Felidae) from Yakutia, Russia. – Cranium 18, 7–24. – G. F. Baryshnikov & G. Boeskorov – 2001. – Molecular phylogeny of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo spelaea – Molecular Phylogenetics and EvolutionVolume 30, Issue 3 – Joachim Burgera, Wilfried Rosendahl, Odile Loreillea, Helmut Hemmer, Torsten Eriksson, Anders G�therstr�m, Jennifer Hiller, Matthew J. Collins, Timothy Wessg & Kurt W. Alt – 2004. – Evolution of the mane and group-living in the lion (Panthera leo): a review – Journal of Zoology Volume 263, Issue 4, pages 329–342. – Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, Alan Cooper, Lars Werdelin & David W. Macdonald – 2004. – Upper Pleistocene Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) skeleton remains from Praha-Podbaba and other lion finds from loess and river terrace sites in Central Bohemia (Czech Republic). – Bulletin of Geosciences 82 (2) – Cajus G. Diedrich – 2007. – Phylogeny of the great cats (Felidae: Pantherinae), and the influence of fossil taxa and missing characters. – Cladistics Vol.24, No.6,pp. 977-992 – Per Christiansen – 2008. – Upper Pleistocene Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) remains from the Bilstein Caves (Sauerland Karst) and contribution to the steppe lion taphonomy, palaeobiology and sexual dimorphism – Annales de Pal�ontologie Volume 95, Issue 3 – Cajus G. Diedrich – 2009. – Phylogeography of lions (Panthera leo ssp.) reveals three distinct taxa and a late Pleistocene reduction in genetic diversity. – Molecular Ecology 18 (8): 1668–1677 – Ross Barnett, Beth Shapiro, Ian Barnes, Simony W. Ho, Joachim Burger, Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, Thomas F. G. Highham, H. Todd Wheeler, Wilfred Rosendahl, Andrei V. Sher, Marina Sotnikova, tatiana Kuznetsova, Gennady F. Baryshnikov, Larry D. Martin, C. Richard Burns & Alan Cooper – 2009. – Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of cave lion (Panthera spelaea) in North-Western Europe: Prey choice, competition and implications for extinction. – Quaternary International 245 (2): 249–261. – Herv� Bocherens, Doroth�e G. Drucker, Dominique Bonjean, Anne Bridault, Nicholas J. Conard, Christophe Cupillard, Mietje Germonpr�, Markus H�neisen, Susanne C. M�nzel, Hannes Napierala, Maryl�ne Patou-Mathis, Elisabeth Stephan, Hans-Peter Uerpmann, Reinhard Ziegler – 2011. – Late Pleistocene steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) footprints and bone records from open air sites in northern Germany – Evidence of hyena-lion antagonism and scavenging in Europe – Quaternary Science Reviews Volume 30, Issues 15–16 – Cajus G. Diedrich – 2011. – The largest European lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss 1810) population from the Zoolithen Cave, Germany: specialised cave bear predators of Europe – Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology Volume 23, Issue 2-3 Cajus G. Diedrich – 2011. – Late Pleistocene steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss 1810) skeleton remains of the Upper Rhine Valley (SW Germany) and contributions to their sexual dimorphism, taphonomy and habitus – Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology vol 24, issue 1. – Cajus G. Diedrich & Thomas Rathgeber – 2011. – Palaeopopulations of Late Pleistocene Top Predators in Europe: Ice Age Spotted Hyenas and Steppe Lions in Battle and Competition about Prey. – Paleontology Journal. 2014: 1–34. – C. G. Diedrich – 2014. – Population Demography and Genetic Diversity in the Pleistocene Cave Lion. – Open Quaternary. 1 (1): Art. 4. – E. Ersmark, L. Orlando, E. Sandoval-Castellanos, I. Barnes, R. Barnett, A. Stuart, A. Lister & L. Dal�n – 2015. – On the discovery of a cave lion from the Malyi Anyui River (Chukotka, Russia). – Quaternary Science Reviews. 117: 135–151. – I. Kirillova, A. V. Tiunov, V. A. Levchenko, O. F. Chernova, V. G. Yudin, F. Bertuch & F. K. Shidlovskiy – 2015. – Mitogenomics of the Extinct Cave Lion, Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810), Resolve its Position within the Panthera Cats. – Open Quaternary. 2: 4. – Ross Barnett, Marie Lisandra Zepeda, Mendoza, Andr� Elias Rodrigues Soares, Simon Y W Ho, Grant Zazula, Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, Beth Shapiro, Irina V Kirillova, Greger Larson, M Thomas & P Gilbert – 2016. – Morphological and genetic identification and isotopic study of the hair of a cave lion (Panthera spelaea Goldfuss, 1810) from the Malyi Anyui River (Chukotka, Russia). – Quaternary Science Reviews. 142: 61–73. – O. F. Chernova, I. V. Kirillova, B. Shapiro, F. K. Shidlovskiy, A. E. R. Soares, V. A. Levchenko & F. Bertuch – 2016. – Under the Skin of a Lion: Unique Evidence of Upper Paleolithic Exploitation and Use of Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea) from the Lower Gallery of La Garma (Spain). – PLOS ONE. 11 (10): e0163591. – M. Cueto, E. Camar�s, P. Casta�os, R. Onta��n & P. Arias – 2017. – Early Pleistocene origin and extensive intra-species diversity of the extinct cave lion. – Scientific Reports. 10: 12621. – David W. G. Stanton, Federica Alberti, Valery Plotnikov, Semyon Androsov, Semyon Grigoriev, Sergey Fedorov, Pavel Kosintsev, Doris Nagel, Sergey Vartanyan, Ian Barnes, Ross Barnett, Erik Ersmark, Doris D�ppes, Mietje Germonpr�, Michael Hofreiter, Wilfried Rosendahl, Pontus Skoglund & Love Dal�n – 2020.

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