''Panthera tigris soloensis'', known as the Ngandong tiger, is an extinct subspecies of the modern

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 ...

species. It inhabited the

Sundaland Sundaland (also called Sundaica or the Sundaic region) is a biogeographical region of Southeast Asia corresponding to a larger landmass that was exposed throughout the last 2.6 million years during periods when sea levels were lower. It inc ...

region of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

during the

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 ...

epoch.

Discoveries

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s of ''P. t. soloensis'' were excavated primarily near the village of

Ngandong Solo Man (''Homo erectus soloensis'') is a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' that lived along the Solo River in Java, Indonesia, about 117,000 to 108,000 years ago in the Late Pleistocene. This population is the last known record of the species. I ...

, hence the common name. Only seven fossils are known, making study of the animal difficult.

Description

Some remains of ''P. t. soloensis'' suggest that it would have been about the size of a modern

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the largest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late ...

. However, given the size of other remains, it may have been larger than a modern tiger. A large male could have weighed around , in which case it would have been heavier than the largest extant tiger subspecies, rendering it among the largest felids known to have ever lived. In 2016, ''P. t. soloensis'' was estimated to weigh 184 kg on average, with the largest specimen estimates to weigh 298 kg.

Paleoecology

In addition to the remains of the Ngandong tiger, many other fossils from the same era have been discovered in Ngandong, like the

proboscidean Proboscidea (; , ) is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Three liv ...

s '' Stegodon trigonocephalus'' and ''

Elephas hysudrindicus ''Elephas hysudrindicus'', commonly known also as the Blora elephant in Indonesia (lit. ''Gajah Blora'' in Indonesian), is a species of extinct elephant from the Pleistocene of Java. It is anatomically distinct from the Asian elephant, the las ...

'', the

bovine Bovines (subfamily Bovinae) comprise a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including Bos, cattle, bison, African buffalo, Bubalus, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The members of this gro ...

s '' Bubalus palaeokerabau'' and ''

Bos palaesondaicus ''Bos palaesondaicus'' occurred on Pleistocene Java (Indonesia) and belongs to the Bovinae subfamily. It has been described by the Dutch paleoanthropologist Eugène Dubois in 1908.Dubois, E. (1908). Das Geologische Alter der Kendengoder Trini ...

'', the extant

perissodactyl Perissodactyla (, ), or odd-toed ungulates, is an order of Ungulate, ungulates. The order includes about 17 living species divided into three Family (biology), families: Equidae (wild horse, horses, Asinus, asses, and zebras), Rhinocerotidae ( ...

s '' Tapirus indicus'' and '' Rhinoceros sondaicus'', and a great variety of cervine species. '' Homo erectus soloensis'' fossils are also known from the area.

References

External links

A new specimen-dependent method of estimating felid body mass (not peer-reviewed)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q16615647 tigris soloensis tigris soloensis Extinct animals of Indonesia Pleistocene carnivorans Fossil taxa described in 1933

Discoveries

Description

Paleoecology

See also

References

External links