Panthera atrox 1853
In 1853, Leidy found an interesting specimen in a collection of mammal fossils donated by the American Philosophical Society (2) donated to The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The specimen was a fragment of the lower left jaw which contained four teeth (three molars and a canine). Leidy identified the fossil as that of very large cat. In fact, it was larger than the extinct European cave lion, which until then had been the largest known member of cat family. He named the new animal Felis atrox.
Lower jaw fragment of Panthera atrox.
Most of the large cats, including the African lion, tiger and European cave lion, are now assigned to the genus Panthera. Some modern authorities also consider Panthera atrox to be a subspecies of the African lion (Panthera leo atrox).
American lions were the largest members of the cat family. The males were about 25% larger than their modern African relatives. They probably entered North America via Siberia and became isolated from their Asian relatives during the Wisconsinan Glaciation (80,000-10,000 years ago). Their fossils have been found in numerous locations between Alaska to Peru. The richest location is the La Brea Tarpits in Los Angeles, Californina, where about 100 individuals have been identified.
The fossil jaw of Panthera atrox can be seen in the left hand of the Joseph Leidy statue that stands in front of The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Websites:
- Tarpits.org's web page on Panthera atrox:
www.tarpits.org/education/guide/flora/lion.html
Notes:
- Etymology:
Panthera (PAN-there-ah) = panther
atrox (A-trox) = fearsome, cruel
Felis (FEE-lis) = cat
[go back] - The
American Philosophical Society was founded by Benjamin Franklin and became the
first significant scientific organization in America. The society is still active,
but its role as a major repository of fossils was gradually relinquished to The
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia during the first half of the 19th
Century. William Henry Huntington of Natchez, Mississipi, donated the lion fossil
to the Society in 1836.
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