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

Citation
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
Citations number
96
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Earth Sciences
Journal title
GEOBIOS
ISSN journal
0016-6995 → ACNP
Volume
34
Issue
4
Year of publication
2001
Pages
475 - 486
Database
ISI
SICI code
0016-6995(2001)34:4<475:TJ-POG>2.0.ZU;2-#
Abstract
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.