''Ursus etruscus'', the Etruscan bear, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of bear,

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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, and

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during the

Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...

, living from approximately 2.2 million to around 1.4-1.2 million years ago. Ursus etruscus skull

Taxonomy

The Etruscan bear appears to have evolved from '' Ursus minimus'' and gave rise to the modern brown bear, '' Ursus arctos'', and the extinct cave bear, '' Ursus spelaeus''. The range of Etruscan bears was mostly limited to

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

, with specimens also recovered in the Great Steppe region of

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

. Fossil evidence for the Etruscan bear was recovered in

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, and Tuscany, Italy. Some scientists have proposed that the early, small variety of ''U. etruscus'' of the middle Villafranchian era survives in the form of the modern Asian black bear.

Morphology

Not unlike the brown bears of Europe in size, it had a full complement of

premolar The premolars, also called premolar Tooth (human), teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the Canine tooth, canine and Molar (tooth), molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per dental terminology#Quadrant, quadrant in ...

s, a trait carried from the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Ursavus''.

Ecology

''Ursus etruscus'', like modern brown bears, is suggested to have been omnivorous, with the diet of some populations suggested to heavily include fish.

Fossil distribution

Sites and specimen ages: *Vassiloudi, Macedonia Greece ~5.3–1.8 Ma. *Obigarm,

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~5.3–1.8 Ma. *Ahl al Oughlam,

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~3.6–1.8 Ma. *Pardines, Auvergne, France ~2.5–1.8 Ma. *Dmanisi,

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~1.8–0.8 Ma. *Mestas de Con, Cangas de Onis, Asturias, Spain ~1.8–0.1 Ma. * Strmica,

~1.8–0.1 Ma. sediments containing Early Pleistocene or Tiglian fauna.

Taxonomy

Morphology

Ecology

Fossil distribution

References

Further reading