Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[tigerluver]

Sotnikova and Nikolskiy work with a few more fossils specimens of P. spelaea from Russia is attached. Don't let pelt color influence you too much, lion-clad and a subspecies of lion are different classifications. They also have a different take on modern lion evolution.

The abstract:
"Well-preservedskulls of Late Pleistocene Panthera spelaea are described from two geographically distant regions of Russia situatedin the Russian Plain andNorthern Siberia. The resemblance of the studiedmaterial with contemporaneous fossil lions from Alaska is established. The cranial morphology of P. spelaea confirms its phylogenetic position within the lion group, whereas many of the characters supporting the cave lion’s relationship with the tiger are primitive. Both living andcave lions are advancedrelative to the Middle Pleistocene P. fossilis in having larger upper incisors andmore inflatedbullae. P. spelaea also possesses the following advanced characters in common with the living lion: widened muzzle in the canine and P2 areas, wide nasal bones, relatively short pre-orbital part of the skull, laterally widened mastoid area, V-shaped form of the posterior tip of the frontal process of maxillary bone, and reduced cusp on the protocone bulge of P4. These conditions establish P. spelaea as a distinct species." Reply