Panthera pardoides
Encyclopedia
Puma pardoides or Owen's panther is an extinct
prehistoric cat
, long regarded as a primitive species of leopard
(genus Panthera
). Recent work has shown that Panthera pardoides is actually the same thing as Panthera schaubi, which is probably not a pantherine at all, but more properly classified as Puma pardoides.
. However, recent work has shown that Viretailurus should actually be included in the genus Puma as a junior synonym of Puma pardoides. Fossils of this leopard
-sized animal are around 2 million years old and were found in France.
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
prehistoric cat
Felidae
Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...
, long regarded as a primitive species of leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
(genus Panthera
Panthera
Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...
). Recent work has shown that Panthera pardoides is actually the same thing as Panthera schaubi, which is probably not a pantherine at all, but more properly classified as Puma pardoides.
Classification
Panthera schaubi or Viretailurus schaubi was historically often regarded as a basal member of the genus PantheraPanthera
Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...
. However, recent work has shown that Viretailurus should actually be included in the genus Puma as a junior synonym of Puma pardoides. Fossils of this leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
-sized animal are around 2 million years old and were found in France.