THE PUMA - CAT OF ONE COLOUR (Puma concolor)

[Acinonyx sp.]

From Cougar: Ecology and Conservation (2009)


Evolution 

Cougars are one of twelve New World felids, which evolved from four different felid lineages ( Figure 3.2). Seven of the other eleven New World felids compose the ocelot lineage (ocelot, Leopardus pardalis; margay, Leopardus wiedii ; tigrina, Leopardus tigrina; Geoffroy’s cat, Oncifelis geoffroyi ; kodkod, Oncifelis guigna; Andean mountain cat, Oreailurus jacobita; and pampas cat, Lynchailurus colocolo). Ocelot the puma lineage (Johnson and O’Brien 1997; Pecon-Slattery and O’Brien 1998). The puma lineage is an old, deeply divergent lineage within the cat family Felidae , and lineage members likely originated from a North American ancestor. The cheetah was the earliest to diverge, about 5–8 MYA (Wayne et al. 1989; Janczewski et al. 1995; Johnson and O’Brien 1997; Pecon-Slattery and O’Brien 1998; Johnson et al. 2006), after which it presumably dispersed through Asia to its current distribution in Africa and the Middle East (Turner 1997). Fossil evidence in North America, from 0.6–3.2 MYA, suggests that a cheetah like Plio-Pleistocene felid, (Miracinonyx inexpectatus) may link the cougar and cheetah (Orr 1969; Kurtén 1976; Adams 1979; Van Valkenburgh et al. 1990). Early cougars (of the Rancholabrean time period) are intermediate in morphology between M. inexpectatus and modern cougars (Kurtén 1976). About 4–5 MYA, the cougar diverged from a common ancestor with the jaguarundi (Janczewski et al. 1995; Johnson and O’Brien 1997, Johnson et al. 2006). Cougar fossils have been found in the southern half of the United States and Mexico dating to between 0.01 and 0.2 MYA (Rancholabrean period; Kurtén 1976; Kurtén and Anderson 1980), and in South America to between 0.01 and 0.3 MYA (Lujanian and Ensenadan periods; Savage and Russell 1983; Werdlin 1989). The cougar, or its ancestor, probably arrived in South America approximately 2–4 MYA during the Great American Interchange (Patterson and Pascual 1972; Webb 1976, 1978; Webb and Marshall 1981; Stehli and Webb 1985; Webb and Rancy 1996), at which time placental carnivore species fi rst migrated to South America with the formation of the Panamanian land bridge. Since the general fl ow of the interchange went from north to south (Marshall et al. 1982), and because M. inexpectatus is found only in North America (Orr 1969; Kurtén 1976; Adams 1979; Van Valkenburgh et al. 1990), it is likely that the cougar, or an ancestor to the cougar, evolved in North America and migrated south. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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