| Panthera palaeosinensis Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Partial skull (IVPP V13538), Paleozoological Museum of China | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | †P. palaeosinensis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Panthera palaeosinensis (Zdansky, 1924)
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| Synonyms | |
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Panthera palaeosinensis was an early Pleistocene species from northern China. It is often incorrectly referenced as the ancestor of the tiger, Panthera tigris, although it shares features with all living large cats. Recent studies place it close to the base of the genus Panthera.[1][2]
Panthera palaeosinensis was first described in 1924 as Felis paleosinensis by Otto Zdansky in his work "Jungtertiäre Carnivoren Chinas". The dating is not certain, but estimates place it around the Plio-Pleistocene boundary at two to three million years old.[3][1] Panthera paleosinensis's skull has an A-P length of 262 mm (10.3 in) and a mandibular length of 169 mm (6.7 in) and the living creature would have appeared like a jaguar, stout and strong. The conical upper canines were not present in the fossil, but the lower canines bear the vertical grooves typical of Panthera.
As of 2023, at least two recent studies considered Panthera zdanskyi likely to be a synonym of P. palaeosinensis, noting that its proposed differences from that species fell within the range of individual variation.[4][5]
- ^ a b Mazák, Ji H.; Christiansen, Per; Kitchener, Andrew C. (2011). "Oldest Known Pantherine Skull and Evolution of the Tiger". PLOS ONE. 6 (10): e25483. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...625483M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025483. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3189913. PMID 22016768.
- ^ Tseng, Z. J.; Wang, X.; Slater, G. J.; Takeuchi, G. T.; Li, Q.; Liu, J.; Xie, G. (2013). "Himalayan fossils of the oldest known pantherine establish ancient origin of big cats". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 281 (1774): 20132686. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2686. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 3843846. PMID 24225466.
- ^ Hemmer, H. (1967). "Wohin gehört "Felis" palaeosinensis Zdansky, 1924 in systematischer Hinsicht" [Where does “Felis” palaeosinensis Zdansky, 1924 belong in systematic terms]. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen (in German). 129: 83–96.
- ^ Hemmer, Helmut (2023). "The identity of the "lion", Panthera principialis sp. nov., from the Pliocene Tanzanian site of Laetoli and its significance for molecular dating the pantherine phylogeny, with remarks on Panthera shawi (Broom, 1948), and a revision of Puma incurva (Ewer, 1956), the Early Pleistocene Swartkrans "leopard" (Carnivora, Felidae)". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 103 (2): 465–487. Bibcode:2023PdPe..103..465H. doi:10.1007/s12549-022-00542-2.
- ^ Jiangzuo, Qigao; Wang, Yuan; Ge, Junyi; Liu, Sizhao; Song, Yayun; Jin, Changzhu; Jiang, Hao; Liu, Jinyi (2023). "Discovery of jaguar from northeastern China middle Pleistocene reveals an intercontinental dispersal event". Historical Biology. 35 (3): 293–302. Bibcode:2023HBio...35..293J. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2034808. S2CID 246693903.