The Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea and Panthera fossilis)

[Ghari Sher]

Something that you might find interesting is a paper announcing a new subspecies of Eurasian lion - Panthera spelaea intermedia, which apparently represents an intermediary form between fossilis and late Pleistocene spelaea of intermediate age. In this case the authors seem to support a (P. spelaea fossilis > P. spelaea intermedia > P. spelaea spelaea) lineage, though I have noticed, as has been mentioned here, that the latter two species seem, at least from the descriptions from the paper (and I am no expert), more similar to each other and fossilis seems somewhat distinct, and interestingly apparently more robust than the later lions (at least in regards to the elements compared in the paper):

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contenton...cation/pdf Reply