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Hemmer, H.; Kahlke, R.-D.; Vekua, A.K.
_Panthera onca georgica_ ssp. nov. from the Early Pleistocene of Dmanisi (Republic of Georgia) and the phylogeography of jaguars (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae)
2010  Neues Jahrbuch fr Geologie und Pal„ontologie: Abhandlungen (257): 115-127

Comparative evaluation of fossil remains of the lower dentition of the jaguar, _Panthera onca _(LINNAEUS, 1758) in the light of recent DNA assessment allows a comprehensive phylogeo - graphic interpretation. The speciation process led a jaguar stem population, clearly of African origin, to disperse over Europe during the time of the Olduvai polarity subchron (1.95-1.77 Myr) (_Panthera onca toscana_). Based on a hemimandible from Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia, dated to about 1.77 Myr, a new taxon _Panthera onca georgica _ssp. nov. is proposed for the earliest known Asian member of the species. Its generalized, more cutting dentition mediates between the contemporaneous _P. onca toscana _and the two later sister subspecies, the Eurasian _P. onca gombaszoegensis_, which is characterized by a specialized cutting and crushing dentition, and the North American _P. onca augusta_. Placing the tooth differences within geographic coordinates indicates a central Asian evolutionary node between the latter two forms. Transcontinental dispersal probably brought the jaguar to North America during a glacial period between the Jaramillo polarity subchron and the end of the Matuyama magnetochron (0.99-0.78 Myr), to finally reach South America not before the Rancholabrean. Divergent taxonomic concepts for Pleistocene jaguars are discussed: single species _P. onca _with several subspecies, two species _P. gombaszoegensis _and _P. onca_, or three species _P. toscana, P. gombaszoegensis _and _P. onca. _

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