''Panthera palaeosinensis'' was an early

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

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), ...

from northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is often incorrectly referenced as the ancestor of the

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

, ''Panthera tigris'', although it shares features with all living large cats. Recent studies place it close to the base of the genus ''

Panthera ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family (biology), family Felidae, and one of two extant genera in the subfamily Pantherinae. It contains the largest living members of the cat family. There are five living species: the jaguar, leopard, lion, ...

''. ''Panthera palaeosinensis'' was first described in 1924 as ''Felis paleosinensis'' by Otto Zdansky in his work "Jungtertiäre Carnivoren Chinas". The dating is not certain, but estimates place it around the Plio-Pleistocene boundary at two to three million years old. ''Panthera paleosinensiss skull has an A-P length of and a mandibular length of and the living creature would have appeared like a jaguar, stout and strong. The conical upper canines were not present in the fossil, but the lower canines bear the vertical grooves typical of ''Panthera''. As of 2025, at least three recent studies considered '' Panthera zdanskyi'' likely to be a synonym of ''P. palaeosinensis'', noting that its proposed differences from that species fell within the range of individual variation.

References

palaeosinensis Prehistoric pantherines Pleistocene carnivorans Pleistocene mammals of Asia Fossil taxa described in 1924 {{Paleo-carnivora-stub