Puma pardoides

Puma pardoides is an extinct prehistoric cat in the genus Puma known from fossils found across Eurasia.

Puma pardoides Temporal range: Pliocene-Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skull
Life reconstruction
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Felinae
Genus:	Puma
Species:	†P. pardoides
Binomial name
†Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846)
Synonyms
Felis pardoides Owen, 1846 Panthera schaubi Viret, 1954 Viretailurus schaubi (Viret, 1954) sensu Hemmer, 1964

History and naming

Puma pardoides was originally described in 1846 as Felis pardoides.^[1] A complete skull, described in 1954 as Panthera schaubi,^[2] was reassigned in 1965 to a new genus as Viretailurus schaubi due to distinct differences from other pantherine cats.^[3] However, in 2001, it was proposed that various puma-like fossils found in Eurasia could all be attributed to a single species: Puma pardoides.^[4][5] In 2004, Viretailurus schaubia was also determined to be a junior synonym of Puma pardoides.^[6]

Classification

Panthera schaubi or Viretailurus schaubi was historically often regarded as a basal member of the genus Panthera.^[7] However, research in 2004 concluded that Viretailurus should actually be included in the genus Puma as a junior synonym of Puma pardoides.^[6][8] Fossils of this leopard-sized animal are around 2 million years old and were found in France. However, their classification was difficult, due to the similarities between leopards and pumas, until teeth found at the Upper Pliocene Transcaucasian site of Kvabebi were found to be similar to those of pumas. ^[6] It is inferred that the species, Puma pardoides is related to living pumas, which can be supported by Eurasian origin of the puma lineage.^[9]

Description

Hemmer 2004 estimates that Puma pardoides weighed between 35–100 kg (77–220 lb).^[10] The cranial and postcranial bones of P. pardoides were more robust than those of the living cougar (Puma concolor).^[9]

Paleobiology

Much like cougars, Puma pardoides was probably a solitary ambush hunter, and its believed ungulates weighing 10–45 kg (22–99 lb) and 180–360 kg (400–790 lb) were secondary prey for P. pardoides.^[11]

Paleoecology

In the earliest Pleistocene (2.6-2 million years ago) of Europe, Puma pardoides lived alongside the hyenas Pliocrocuta and Chasmaporthetes, the sabertooth cats Megantereon and Homotherium, the giant cheetah Acinonyx pardinensis , the primitive lynx Lynx issiodorensis, the bear Ursus etruscus, the early wolf ancestor Canis etruscus, and the wild dog Xenocyon. In the late Early Pleistocene (~2-1 million years ago), Chasmaporthetes and Pliocrocuta became extinct, with this time period seeing the arrival of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta and the "European jaguar" Panthera gombaszogensis.^[12]

Extinction

The last occurrences of Puma pardoides are from about 0.85 Ma. The extinction of this felid may have had something to do with the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.^[13]