The Jaguar - Panthera onca gombaszoegensis (KRETZOI, 1938) (Carnivora : Felidae) in the late Lower Pleistocene of Akhalkalaki (South Georgia; Transcaucasia) and its evolutionary and ecological significance
H. Hemmer et al., The Jaguar - Panthera onca gombaszoegensis (KRETZOI, 1938) (Carnivora : Felidae) in the late Lower Pleistocene of Akhalkalaki (South Georgia; Transcaucasia) and its evolutionary and ecological significance, GEOBIOS, 34(4), 2001, pp. 475-486
A lower hemimandibula of a pantherine cat of Akhalkalaki (south Georgia, Tr
anscaucasia) is re-examinated. The fossil originates from lacustrine sedime
nts of late Lower Pleistocene age (0.9 - 0.8 Ma B.P.) above the Jaramillo p
olarity subzone. A tooth-by-tooth analysis comparing the fossil with Lower
and Middle Pleistocene lions, tigers and jaguars and Holocene southwest Asi
an lions assigns it to the Eurasian jaguar, Panthera onca gomba-szoegensis.
Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction indicates a dry, warm meadow-steppe inf
luenced by montane condition, with permanent water bodies present. This is
consistent with the strong open-water affinities of the modern jaguar. The
morphological proximity of South-western and Middle Asian jaguar specimens
of late Lower Pleistocene age to P. onca gombaszoegensis remains from Centr
al and Western Europe suggests an extended period of uninterrupted contact
between the jaguar populations of Europe and Western Asia. (C) 2001 Edition
s scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.