Mitogenomics of the extinct cave lion, Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810), resolve its position within the panthera cats
| Author | Barnett, Ross |
| Author | Mendoza, Marie Lisandra Zepeda |
| Author | Soares, André Elias Rodrigues |
| Author | Ho, Simon Y W |
| Author | Zazula, Grant |
| Author | Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki |
| Author | Shapiro, Beth |
| Author | Kirillova, Irina V |
| Author | Larson, Greger |
| Author | Gilbert, M Thomas P |
| Available date | 2021-09-08T06:49:46Z |
| Publication Date | 2016 |
| Publication Name | Open Quaternary |
| Resource | Scopus |
| ISSN | 2055298X |
| Abstract | The extinct cave lion (Panthera spelaea) was an apex predator of the Pleistocene, and one of the largest felid species ever to exist. We report the first mitochondrial genome sequences for this species, derived from two Beringian specimens, one of which has been radiocarbon dated to 29,860 ± 210 14C a BP. Phylogenetic analysis confirms the placement of the cave lion as the sister taxon to populations of the modern lion (P. leo). Using newly recovered stem pantherine fossils to calibrate a molecular clock, we estimate that P. spelaea and P. leo diverged about 1.89 million years ago (95% credibility interval: 1.23–2.93 million years), highlighting the likely position of this extinct carnivore as a distinct species. |
| Sponsor | We thank the laboratory technicians of the Centre for Geo-Genetics and the staff of the Danish National High-Throughput DNA Sequencing Centre for technical assistance. We thank Tom Stafford Jr and Stafford Research LLC for radiocarbon dating and discussion. Thanks to the field crew that recovered bone YG401.410: Matthias Stiller, Duane Froese, and Tyler Kuhn. We greatly appreciate work of Elizabeth Hall, Susan Hewitson and Greer Vanderbyl on the Yukon Palaeontology fossil collections. Thanks to Fedor Shidlovs-kiy of the Ice Age Museum, Moscow, Russia, for access to sample F-2678/70. All map outlines downloaded from d-maps.com. This project received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF-298820, as well as from the Lundbeck Foundation grant number R52-A5062. Additional support was received from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. |
| Language | en |
| Publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| Subject | Cave lion Mitochondrial genome Numt Panthera leo spelaea |
| Type | Article |
| Volume Number | 2 |
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