Freak Felids - A Discussion of History's Largest Felines

[tigerluver]

Well, it depends on what we are considering the lion stem group. 

P. spelaea and P. leo diverged 1.8 MYA, but that doesn't mean P. leo stayed unchanged as divergence dates between lineages don't regard the future of the diverged species, if you get what I mean. For example, if we take the P. spelaea fossilis (I refer to this not as P. fossilis for the sake of the scenario) to P. spelaea spelaea theory as accurate, then even though P. spealea diverged 1.8 MYA it did undergo significant change by the late Pleistocene. Similarly, I am sure the P. leo of today is not exactly the same as the species that broke from P. spelaea 1.8 MYA. 

Now, would you folks like to see the fossil of the likely stem group, Panthera shawi?

*This image is copyright of its original author

Enjoy the short read. You might notice that the size of P. fossilis originates from this lost freak felid of 2 million years ago. 

To not lose all conversation material at once, I'll leave with this for now. More P. shawi data will be on the way. Reply