Evolution
Like much of the family Felidae, Panthera has been subject to much debate and taxonomic revision. At the base of the genus is probably the extinct felid Viretailurus schaubi, which is also regarded as an early member of the genus Puma. Panthera likely evolved in Asia, but the definite roots of the genus remain unclear. The divergence of the pantherine cats (including the living genera Panthera, Uncia, and Neofelis) from the subfamily Felinae (including all other living cat species) has been ranked between six and ten million years ago. The fossil record points to the emergence of Panthera just 2 to 3.8 million years ago.
The snow leopard was seen originally at the base of the Panthera, but newer molecular studies suggest that it is nestled within Panthera and is a sister species of the tiger. Thus, many place the snow leopard within the genus Panthera, but there is currently no consensus as to whether the snow leopard should retain its own genus, Uncia or be moved to Panthera uncia. Since 2008, the IUCN Red List has listed it as Panthera uncia, with Uncia uncia identified as a synonym. A prehistoric feline, probably closely related to the modern jaguar, is Panthera gombaszogensis, often called European jaguar. The earliest evidence of this species, obtained at what is now Olivola in Italy, dates from 1.6 million years ago.
The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), which was divided in 2007 to distinguish the Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), is generally placed at the basis of the Panthera group but is not included in the genus Panthera itself.
A study based on mitochondrial genomes suggests that the phylogeny can be represented as Neofelis nebulosa (Panthera tigris (Panthera onca (Panthera pardus, (Panthera leo, Panthera uncia)))). About 11.3 million years ago Panthera separated from other felid species and then evolved into the several species of the genus. N. nebulosa appears to have diverged about 8.66 million years ago, P. tigris about 6.55 million years ago, P. uncia about 4.63 million years ago and P. pardus about 4.35 million years ago. Mitochondrial sequence data from fossils suggest that American lions (P. atrox) are a sister lineage to Eurasian cave lions (P. l. spelaea), diverging about 0.34 million years ago.
Read more about this topic: Panthera
Famous quotes containing the word evolution:
“The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“The evolution of sense is, in a sense, the evolution of nonsense.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Historians will have to face the fact that natural selection determined the evolution of cultures in the same manner as it did that of species.”
—Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989)