''Puma pardoides'' is an extinct prehistoric

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

in the genus '' Puma'' known from fossils found across

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 ...

History and naming

''Puma pardoides'' was originally described in 1846 as ''Felis pardoides''. A complete skull was described in 1954 as ''Panthera schaubi'', but was assigned in 1965 to a new genus as ''Viretailurus schaubi'' due to distinct differences from other pantherine cats. In 2001, however, it was pointed out that the various puma-like fossils in Eurasia could all be attributed to a single species, ''Puma pardoides''. And in 2004, ''Viretailurus schaubia'' was also found to be a junior synonym of ''Puma pardoides''.

Classification

''Panthera schaubi'' or ''Viretailurus schaubi'' was historically often regarded as a basal member 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, ...

''. However, research in 2004 concluded that ''Viretailurus'' should actually be included in the genus ''Puma'' as a junior synonym of ''Puma pardoides''. Fossils of this

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

-sized animal are around 2 million years old and were found in France. However, their classification was difficult, due to the similarities between leopards and pumas, until teeth found at the Upper Pliocene Transcaucasian site of Kvabebi were found to be similar to those of pumas. It is inferred that the species, ''Puma pardoides'' is related to living pumas, which can be supported by Eurasian origin of the puma lineage.

Description

Hemmer 2004 estimates that ''Puma pardoides'' weighed between . The cranial and postcranial bones of ''P. pardoides'' were more robust than ''Puma concolor''.

Paleobiology

Much like cougars, ''Puma pardoides'' was probably a solitary ambush hunter, and its believed ungulates weighing and were secondary prey for ''P. pardoides''.

Extinction

The last occurrences of ''Puma pardoides'' are from about 0.85 Ma. The extinction of this felid may have had something to do with the

Mid-Pleistocene Transition The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT), also known as the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (MPR), is a fundamental change in the behaviour of glacial cycles during the Quaternary glaciations. The transition lasted around 550,000 years, from 1.25 million ...

References

Prehistoric felines Prehistoric mammals of Europe pardoides Mammals described in 1846 Fossil taxa described in 1846 Pleistocene mammals of Europe Pleistocene carnivorans {{paleo-carnivora-stub