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Turner, A.
Dental sex dimorphism in European lions (_Panthera leo_ L.) of the Upper Pleistocene: palaeoecological and palaeoethological implications
1984 Annales Zoologici Fennici
Recently proposed metrical and geographic evidence for the presence of two sub-species of lions (_Panthera leo_ Linnaeus 1758) during th e Upper Pleistocene in Europe is examined in comparison with measurements made on modern specimens of known sex and a consideration of the sexual composition of modern adult lion groups. On the basis of these comparisons, the bimodal distributions observed in measurements made on fossil specimens and the presence of single size groups at certain sites are argued to support sexual dimorphism rather than sub-speciation as a preferred interpretation. Potential palaeoecological and palaeoethological insights likely to be obscured by incorrect interpretation of bimodality and size-group temporal and geographic distributions a rediscussed.
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