The Jaguar - Panthera onca gombaszoegensis (KRETZOI, 1938) (Carnivora : Felidae) in the late Lower Pleistocene of Akhalkalaki (South Georgia; Transcaucasia) and its evolutionary and ecological significance

A lower hemimandibula of a pantherine cat of Akhalkalaki (south Georgia, Transcaucasia) is re-examinated. The fossil originates from lacustrine sediments of late Lower Pleistocene age (0.9 - 0.8 Ma B.P.) above the Jaramillo polarity subzone. A tooth-by-tooth analysis comparing the fossil with Lower and Middle Pleistocene lions, tigers and jaguars and Holocene southwest Asian lions assigns it to the Eurasian jaguar, Panthera onca gomba-szoegensis. Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction indicates a dry, warm meadow-steppe influenced by montane condition, with permanent water bodies present. This is consistent with the strong open-water affinities of the modern jaguar. The morphological proximity of South-western and Middle Asian jaguar specimens of late Lower Pleistocene age to P. onca gombaszoegensis remains from Central and Western Europe suggests an extended period of uninterrupted contact between the jaguar populations of Europe and Western Asia. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.