Panthera tigris soloensis

Panthera tigris soloensis Temporal range: Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Pantherinae
Genus:	Panthera
Species:	P. tigris
Subspecies:	†P. t. soloensis
Trinomial name
†Panthera tigris soloensis Koenigswald, 1933
Synonyms[1][2]
Panthera sondaica Temminck 1845 Feliopsis palaeojavanica Stremme 1911

Panthera tigris soloensis, known as the Ngandong tiger,^[3] is an extinct subspecies of the modern tiger species. It inhabited the Sundaland region of Indonesia during the Pleistocene epoch.^[4]

Discoveries

Fossils of P. t. soloensis were excavated primarily near the village of Ngandong, hence the common name. Only seven fossils are known, making study of the animal difficult.^[3]

Description

Some remains of P. t. soloensis suggest that it would have been about the size of a modern Bengal tiger. However, given the size of other remains, it may have been larger than a modern tiger. A large male could have weighed around 400 kg (880 lb), in which case it would have been heavier than the largest extant tiger subspecies,^[3] rendering it among the largest felids known to have ever lived.^[5] In 2016, P. t. soloensis was estimated to weigh 184 kg on average, with the largest specimen estimates to weigh 298 kg.^[6]

Paleoecology

In addition to the remains of the Ngandong tiger, many other fossils from the same era have been discovered in Ngandong, like the proboscideans Stegodon trigonocephalus and Elephas hysudrindicus, the bovines Bubalus palaeokerabau and Bos palaesondaicus, the extant perissodactyls Tapirus indicus and Rhinoceros sondaicus, and a great variety of cervine species. Homo erectus soloensis fossils are also known from the area.^[7]

See also

• Bornean tiger
• Prehistoric tigers: Panthera tigris trinilensis  · Panthera tigris acutidens
• Panthera zdanskyi

References

1. Brongersma, L.D. (1935). "Notes on some recent and fossil cats, chiefly from the Malay Archipelago". Zoologische Mededelingen Leiden. XVIII (1): 1–89.
2. Rabett, Ryan J. (2012). "3: Hominin Dispersal beyond Africa during the Lower and Middle Pleistocene". Human Adaptation in the Asian Palaeolithic: Hominin Dispersal and Behaviour during the Late Quaternary. Cambridge University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-1395-6080-1.
3. Ronald Tilson; Philip J. Nyhus, eds. (2009). Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of Panthera tigris. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-0809-4751-8.
4. Koenigswald, G. H. R. von (1933). "Beitrag zur Kenntnis der fossilen Wirbeltiere Javas". Wetenschappelijke Mededeelingen Dienst Mijnbouw Nederlansch Oost-Indie 23: 1–127.
5. Sorkin, B. (2008). "A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators". Lethaia. 41 (4): 333–347. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x.
6. Volmer, Rebekka; Hertler, Christine; van der Geer, Alexandra (1 January 2016). "Niche overlap and competition potential among tigers (Panthera tigris), sabertoothed cats (Homotherium ultimum, Hemimachairodus zwierzyckii) and Merriam's Dog (Megacyon merriami) in the Pleistocene of Java". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 441: 901–911. Bibcode:2016PPP...441..901V. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.10.039. hdl:10795/3286.
7. Djubiantono, T. (2001). "Paleogeography of the Solo area and the Search for Lower and Middle Pleistocene Prehistoric Sites". In Simanjuntak, T.; Prasetyo, B.; Handini, R. (eds.). Sangiran: Man, Culture, and Environment in Pleistocene Times. Jakarta: The National Research Centre of Archaeology. pp. 257–259.

External links

• A new specimen-dependent method of estimating felid body mass (not peer-reviewed)