Bears of the Pleistocene

[tigerluver]

(05-18-2020, 09:04 AM)bruin Wrote: Does anyone here know what Ursus taubacbensis was? This bear is new to me.

That is a synonym for fossil brown bears and might be a superfluous classification rather than a valid taxa. To quote Marciszak et al. (2015):

"Fossil European brown bears were described by many authors under different names (e.g. Ursus ferox, taubachensis, horribilis etc.) (see Erdbrink, 1953 and reference therein; Pacher, 2007). Erdbrink (1953: 321) noted: “No other bear has been the cause of so much nomenclatorial confusion and general controversy”. The taxonomical nature of the Pleistocene bears was widely discussed by e.g. Erdbrink (1953) and Pacher (2007), and in general point of view authors agree with Baryshnikov and Boeskorov (2004) and Baryshnikov (2007) in recognition of three different fossil brown bear forms."

It seems generally U. taubachensis specimens are part of U. priscus or U. artcos.

I've attached three papers that shed light on the topic. Reply