The Pantherinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

of the

Felidae Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the gre ...

; it was named and first described by

Reginald Innes Pocock Reginald Innes Pocock, (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist. Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's ...

in 1917 as only including the ''

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, ...

'' species, but later also came to include the clouded leopards (genus ''Neofelis''). The Pantherinae genetically diverged from a

common ancestor Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonl ...

between and .

Characteristics

Pantherinae species are characterised by an imperfectly ossified

hyoid bone The hyoid-bone (lingual-bone or tongue-bone) () is a horseshoe-shaped bone situated in the anterior midline of the neck between the chin and the thyroid-cartilage. At rest, it lies between the base of the mandible and the third cervical verte ...

with elastic

tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue, dense fibrous connective tissue that connects skeletal muscle, muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tensi ...

s that enable their

larynx The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ (anatomy), organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal ...

to be mobile. They have a flat

rhinarium The rhinarium (Neo-Latin, "belonging to the nose"; : rhinaria) is the furless skin surface surrounding the external openings of the nostrils in many mammals. Commonly it is referred to as the tip of the ''snout'', and breeders of cats and dogs s ...

that only barely reaches the

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...

side of the nose. The area between the nostrils is narrow, and not extended sidewards as in the

Felinae The small cats or Felinae are a subfamily of Felidae distinguished by their bony hyoids, which let them purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily, as comprising only the living conical-toothed cat ...

. The ''

'' species have a single, rounded,

vocal fold In humans, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through Speech, vocalization. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch of voice, similar to a violin string. Open when brea ...

with a thick mucosal lining, a large vocalis muscle, and a large cricothyroid muscle with long and narrow membranes. A vocal fold that is longer than enables all but the snow leopard among them to roar, as it has shorter vocal folds of that provide a lower resistance to airflow; this distinction was one reason it was proposed to be retained in the genus ''Uncia''.

Evolution

The Felidae originated in Central Asia in the

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

; the subfamily Pantherinae diverged from the Felidae between and . Several

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 ...

''Panthera'' species have been described: *'' Panthera principialis'' lived during the

Early Pliocene Early may refer to: Places in the United States * Early, Iowa, a city * Early, Texas, a city * Early Branch, a stream in Missouri * Early County, Georgia * Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort Music * Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...

around 3.7 million years ago in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. *'' Panthera palaeosinensis'' lived in 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 ...

around two million years ago in northern

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

. *'' Panthera zdanskyi'' is dated to . It is possibly a junior synonym of ''P. palaeosinensis''. *'' Panthera gombaszoegensis'' lived from about in

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 ...

. *'' Panthera youngi'' lived in 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 ...

about in China. *''

Panthera spelaea ''Panthera spelaea'', commonly known as the cave lion (or less commonly as the steppe lion), is an extinct ''Panthera'' species that was native to Eurasia and northwest North America during the Pleistocene epoch. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA ...

'' lived in Europe after the third Cromerian interglacial stage from about 450,000 to 14,000 years ago. *'' Panthera atrox'' lived in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

during the Pleistocene and early Holocene about 340,000 to 11,000 years ago. *'' Panthera shawi'' was a lion-like cat in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

that possibly lived in the early Pleistocene. *'' Panthera balamoides'' lived in the Yucatan Peninsula in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

during the Pleistocene. Some researchers consider this species to be a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

instead. An additional fossil genus '' Leontoceryx'' was described in 1938. There is evidence of distinct markers for the mitochondrial genome for Felidae. Results of a DNA-based study indicate that the tiger (''Panthera tigris'') branched off first, followed by the jaguar (''P. onca''), the lion (''P. leo''), then the leopard (''P. pardus'') and snow leopard (''P. uncia''). ''Felis pamiri'', first described in 1965 and once referred to as '' Metailurus'' in 1978, is now considered a probable relative of

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

Pantherinae and was moved to the genus '' Miopanthera''. However, this species was later reassigned as a species of a different genus '' Palaeopanthera'', of which ''P. blytheae'' is the type species. ''P. blytheae'' was initially regarded as possibly the oldest known species of ''Panthera'' related to the modern snow leopard that lived during the

, but subsequent studies have since agreed that it is not a member of or a related species of the snow leopard lineage and that it belongs to a different genus.

Taxonomy

Pocock originally defined the Pantherinae as comprising the

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

'' and ''Uncia''. Today, ''Uncia'' has been subsumed into ''Panthera'', and the genus '' Neofelis'' is also included.

Living genera

The following table shows the extant taxa within the Pantherinae, grouped according to the traditional

phenotypical In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or phenotypic trait, traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (biology), morphology (physical form and structure), its Developmental biology, develo ...

classification.

References

External links