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| A reconstruction of the newly discovered species Panthera blytheae, based on a skull discovered in Tibet that is estimated to be between four and five million years old.
Illustration by Mauricio Antón | DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.2686
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Abstract
Pantherine felids (‘big cats’) include the largest living cats, apex predators in their respective ecosystems. They are also the earliest diverging living cat lineage, and thus are important for understanding the evolution of all subsequent felid groups. Although the oldest pantherine fossils occur in Africa, molecular phylogenies point to Asia as their region of origin. This paradox cannot be reconciled using current knowledge, mainly because early big cat fossils are exceedingly rare and fragmentary. Here, we report the discovery of a fossil pantherine from the Tibetan Himalaya, with an age of Late Miocene–Early Pliocene, replacing African records as the oldest pantherine. A ‘total evidence’ phylogenetic analysis of pantherines indicates that the new cat is closely related to the snow leopard and exhibits intermediate characteristics on the evolutionary line to the largest cats. Historical biogeographic models provide robust support for the Asian origin of pantherines. The combined analyses indicate that 75% of the divergence events in the pantherine lineage extended back to the Miocene, up to 7 Myr earlier than previously estimated. The deeper evolutionary origin of big cats revealed by the new fossils and analyses indicate a close association between Tibetan Plateau uplift and diversification of the earliest living cats.
Subject Areas: evolution, palaeontology, taxonomy and systematics
Keywords: first appearance, Himalaya, Pantherinae, Felidae, Miocene, Asia
Z. Jack Tseng, Xiaoming Wang, Graham J. Slater, Gary T. Takeuchi, Qiang Li, Juan Liu and Guangpu Xie. 2013. Himalayan Fossils of the Oldest known Pantherine establish Ancient Origin of Big Cats. Proc. R. Soc. B. 281: 20132686. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2686
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ck5TQJAwfaA
Step by step reconstruction of the new species of fossil pantherine cat from Tibet.
via Mauricio Anton
Step by step reconstruction of the new species of fossil pantherine cat from Tibet.
via Mauricio Anton
This Fossil Skull Unearthed in Tibet Is the Oldest Big Cat Ever Found
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/11/this-fossil-skull-unearthed-in-tibet-is-the-oldest-big-cat-ever-found/ @SmithsonianMag
Discovery of world's oldest big cat fossil suggests predator evolved in Asia
Nearly complete skull of creature similar to a snow leopard discovered in Tibet is estimated to be 4.4m years old
Ancient Cat May Reshape Feline Family Tree
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Ji H. Mazák, Per Christiansen and Andrew C. Kitchener. 2011. Oldest Known Pantherine Skull and Evolution of the Tiger.
