Panthera spelaea

Panthera spelaea; Temporal range: Middle-Late Pleistocene,
	Skeleton in Natural History Museum, Vienna
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Pantherinae
Genus:	Panthera
Species:	†P. spelaea
Binomial name
	†Panthera spelaea; Goldfuss, 1810
Subspecies
	Panthera spelaea vereshchagini (Baryshnikov & Boeskorov, 2001); Panthera spelaea spelaea Goldfuss, 1810;
	Red indicates the maximal range of Panthera spelaea, blue Panthera atrox, and green Panthera leo.
Synonyms
	Panthera leo spelaea M. Boule & L. De Villeneuve, 1927;

Panthera spelaea, also known as the cave lion or steppe lion,^[1] is an extinct Panthera species that most likely evolved in Europe after the third Cromerian interglacial stage, less than 600,000 years ago. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion (Panthera leo) occurring in Africa and Asia,^[2] with the genetic divergence between the two species variously estimated between 1.9 million^[3]^[4] and 600,000 years ago.^[5] It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion (Panthera atrox).^[5] The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna, and an important apex predator across its range. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago.^[6] It closely resembled living lions with a coat of yellowish fur, though unlike living lions males appear to have lacked manes.

^ Diedrich, C. G. (2014). "Palaeopopulations of Late Pleistocene Top Predators in Europe: Ice Age Spotted Hyenas and Steppe Lions in Battle and Competition about Prey". Paleontology Journal. 2014: 1–34. doi:10.1155/2014/106203.
^ Burger, J.; Rosendahl, W.; Loreille, O.; Hemmer, H.; Eriksson, T.; Götherström, A.; Hiller, J.; Collins, M. J.; Wess, T.; Alt, K. W. (2004). "Molecular phylogeny of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo spelaea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 30 (3): 841–849. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.07.020. PMID 15012963.
^ Barnett, R.; Shapiro, B.; Barnes, I. A. N.; Ho, S. Y.; Burger, J.; Yamaguchi, N.; Higham, T. F.; Wheeler, H.; Rosendahl, W.; Sher, A. V. & Sotnikova, M. (2009). "Phylogeography of lions (Panthera leo ssp.) reveals three distinct taxa and a late Pleistocene reduction in genetic diversity" (PDF). Molecular Ecology. 18 (8): 1668–1677. Bibcode:2009MolEc..18.1668B. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04134.x. PMID 19302360. S2CID 46716748. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2012.
^ Barnett, R.; Mendoza, M. L. Z.; Soares, A. E. R.; Ho, S. Y. W.; Zazula, G.; Yamaguchi, N.; Shapiro, B.; Kirillova, I. V.; Larson, G.; Gilbert, M. T. P. (2016). "Mitogenomics of the Extinct Cave Lion, Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810), Resolve its Position within the Panthera Cats". Open Quaternary. 2: 4. doi:10.5334/oq.24. hdl:10576/22920.
^ ^a ^b Manuel, M. d.; Ross, B.; Sandoval-Velasco, M.; Yamaguchi, N.; Vieira, F. G.; Mendoza, M. L. Z.; Liu, S.; Martin, M. D.; Sinding, M.-H. S.; Mak, S. S. T.; Carøe, C.; Liu, S.; Guo, C.; Zheng, J.; Zazula, G.; Baryshnikov, G.; Eizirik, E.; Koepfli, K.-P.; Johnson, W. E.; Antunes, A.; Sicheritz-Ponten, T.; Gopalakrishnan, S.; Larson, G.; Yang, H.; O'Brien, S. J.; Hansen, A. J.; Zhang, G.; Marques-Bonet, T. & Gilbert, M. T. P. (2020). "The evolutionary history of extinct and living lions". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117 (20): 10927–10934. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11710927D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1919423117. PMC 7245068. PMID 32366643.
^ Stuart, A. J. & Lister, A. M. (2011). "Extinction chronology of the cave lion Panthera spelaea". Quaternary Science Reviews. 30 (17): 2329–2340. Bibcode:2011QSRv...30.2329S. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.04.023.

[diedrich2014-1] Diedrich, C. G. (2014). "Palaeopopulations of Late Pleistocene Top Predators in Europe: Ice Age Spotted Hyenas and Steppe Lions in Battle and Competition about Prey". Paleontology Journal. 2014: 1–34. doi:10.1155/2014/106203.

[Burger-2] Burger, J.; Rosendahl, W.; Loreille, O.; Hemmer, H.; Eriksson, T.; Götherström, A.; Hiller, J.; Collins, M. J.; Wess, T.; Alt, K. W. (2004). "Molecular phylogeny of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo spelaea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 30 (3): 841–849. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.07.020. PMID 15012963.

[Barnett2009-3] Barnett, R.; Shapiro, B.; Barnes, I. A. N.; Ho, S. Y.; Burger, J.; Yamaguchi, N.; Higham, T. F.; Wheeler, H.; Rosendahl, W.; Sher, A. V. & Sotnikova, M. (2009). "Phylogeography of lions (Panthera leo ssp.) reveals three distinct taxa and a late Pleistocene reduction in genetic diversity" (PDF). Molecular Ecology. 18 (8): 1668–1677. Bibcode:2009MolEc..18.1668B. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04134.x. PMID 19302360. S2CID 46716748. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2012.

[Barnett2016-4] Barnett, R.; Mendoza, M. L. Z.; Soares, A. E. R.; Ho, S. Y. W.; Zazula, G.; Yamaguchi, N.; Shapiro, B.; Kirillova, I. V.; Larson, G.; Gilbert, M. T. P. (2016). "Mitogenomics of the Extinct Cave Lion, Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810), Resolve its Position within the Panthera Cats". Open Quaternary. 2: 4. doi:10.5334/oq.24. hdl:10576/22920.

[Manuel_al2020-5] Manuel, M. d.; Ross, B.; Sandoval-Velasco, M.; Yamaguchi, N.; Vieira, F. G.; Mendoza, M. L. Z.; Liu, S.; Martin, M. D.; Sinding, M.-H. S.; Mak, S. S. T.; Carøe, C.; Liu, S.; Guo, C.; Zheng, J.; Zazula, G.; Baryshnikov, G.; Eizirik, E.; Koepfli, K.-P.; Johnson, W. E.; Antunes, A.; Sicheritz-Ponten, T.; Gopalakrishnan, S.; Larson, G.; Yang, H.; O'Brien, S. J.; Hansen, A. J.; Zhang, G.; Marques-Bonet, T. & Gilbert, M. T. P. (2020). "The evolutionary history of extinct and living lions". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117 (20): 10927–10934. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11710927D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1919423117. PMC 7245068. PMID 32366643.

[Stuart2011-6] Stuart, A. J. & Lister, A. M. (2011). "Extinction chronology of the cave lion Panthera spelaea". Quaternary Science Reviews. 30 (17): 2329–2340. Bibcode:2011QSRv...30.2329S. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.04.023.

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