Ancient Jaguars

[Balam]

(06-21-2020, 07:47 PM)Richardrli Wrote: OncaAtrox, thank you for your speedy reply. Just a couple more if you don't mind

1) Was mesembrina mostly restricted to the extreme southern end of South America in places like Patagonia? Would this suggest they largely avoided competition with Smilodon fatalis and populator?

2) Somewhat off topic but in terms of the pantherine relations to each other, would the tiger be the only entirely Asian pantherine species as even it's closest relative the snow leopard apparently have some ancestry on the female lineage side from some African cat?

Remains from mesembrina have been found from the Southern tip of the Patagonia all the way up to Washington state, only during the late Pleistocene do we see remains of them in the Patagonia still present which may suggest an earlier extinction in North America and northern South America. 
 
In terms of interspecific conflict, it is likely that they preferred different habitats from that of other large sympatric felids or maybe different prey preferences (although based on the evidence this is unlikely), but truly research on their ecology as it relates to how they interacted with other predators is lacking.

The tiger and snow leopard are indeed the only two extant species of Pantherines who failed to establish themselves outside of Asia and probably had their roots from an earlier Pantherine known as Panthera blytheae. Reply