Kingdom Animalia Order Carnivora Genus Panthera Higher classification Roaring cats | Phylum Chordata Family Felidae Scientific name Panthera palaeosinensis Rank Species | |
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Similar Roaring cats, Felidae, Mammal, Carnivores, Trinil tiger | ||
Panthera palaeosinensis was an early Pleistocene species from northern China. It is often incorrectly referenced as the ancestral tiger, Panthera tigris, although it shares features with all living large cats. Recent studies place it close to the base of the genus Panthera.
Panthera palaeosinensis was first described in 1924 as Felis paneosinensis by Otto Zdansky in his work "JungtertiÃĪre Carnivoren Chinas". The dating is not certain, but estimates place it around the Plio-Pleistocene boundary at two to three million years old. 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.