Panthera zdanskyi

Panthera zdanskyi
	Skull of Panthera zdanskyi
Temporal occurrence
	Gelasian , Pleistocene
	2.55 to 2.16 million years
Locations
	Gansu , People's Republic of China ;
Systematics
Order :	Predators (Carnivora)
Subordination :	Feline (Feliformia)
Family :	Cats (Felidae)
Subfamily :	Big cats (pantherinae)
Genre :	Real big cats ( Panthera )
Type :	Panthera zdanskyi
Scientific name
	Panthera zdanskyi
	Mazák , Christiansen & Kitchener , 2011

Panthera zdanskyi (also known as Longdan tiger after the place where it was found) is an extinct species of big cat whose fossil remains were discovered in 2004 in Gansu Province in northwestern China. Thebig cat namedafter the Austrian palaeontologist Otto A. Zdansky was described in 2011 and is considered the oldest known relative of the tiger ( Panthera tigris ).

features

Reconstruction of Panthera zdanskyi , drawn by Velizar Simeonovski

The holotype BIOPSI 00177 of Panthera zdanskyi consists of an almost complete skull and a lower jaw . The paratype IVPP 13538 includes the rostrum, the intermaxillary bone , the upper jaw and most of the dentition, which was originally assigned to the species Panthera palaeosinensis . The Terra typica is the eastern slope of the Longdan, which is located south of the Dongxiang Autonomous Okrug . The age of the material is dated to the Gelasian , the oldest epoch of the Pleistocene between 2.55 and 2.16 million years. The skull is the oldest big cat skull ever brought to light.

Phylogeny

The Kladogramm has Panthera Zdanskyi as Schwestertaxon of Panthera tigris out. The species is therefore considered to be a close relative of the recent tiger . The cladogram follows Mazák, Christiansen and Kitchener (2011) and is based on analyzes of the skull and tooth structure.

Big cats (pantherinae)

Clouded leopard ( Neofelis )

Real big cats ( Panthera )

Snow leopard ( P. uncia )