IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Hemmer, H.; Kahlke, R.-D.; Vekua, A.K. | |
| The jaguar - _Panthera onca gambaszoegensis_ (Kretzoi, 1938) (Carnivora: Felidae) in the late lower Pleistocene of Akhalkalaki (South Georgia; Transcaucasia) and its evolutionary and ecological significance | |
| 2001 Geobios (34): 475-486 | |
A lower hemimandibula of a pantherine cat of Akhalkalki (south Georgia, Transcaucasia) is re-examined. The fossil originates from lacustrine sediments of late Lower Pleistocene age (0.9-0.8 Ma B.P.) above the Jaramillo pliarity subzone. A tooth-by-tooth analysis comparing the fossil with Lower and Middle Pleistocene lions, tigers and jaguars and Holocene southwest Asian lions assigns it to the Eurasian jaguar, _Panthera onca gombaszoegensis._ Palaeoenvironmental reconstrucion indicates a dry, warm meadow-steppe_ _influenced 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 Central and WEstern Europe suggests an extended period of uninterrupted contact between the jaguar population of Europe and Western Asia. |
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