Prehistoric lynxes.
Aug. 29th, 2007 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ferinePreviously I hadn't heard of the Issoire lynx, and I'm happy to have learned about it. Here are some neat tidbits I uncovered from that search:
(from an awesome site detailing cat prehistory)
"Lynx were known to be present in North America and Eurasia in Pliocene or Pleistocene time. The common ancestor of modern lynx and bobcats was probably a North American lynx of 6.7 million years ago. The extinct Issoire Lynx (Lynx issiodorensis) of 4 million years ago was larger than modern lynx with shorter legs. Modern lynx are smaller, a trend that is true in other species such as cheetah, jaguar, leopard and lion where the prehistoric forms were giants compared to their modern descendents. Their larger size was either an adaptation to colder climes or to cope with larger prey species. Another Pleistocene subspecies was Lynx rufus koakudsi.
"North American Pliocene small cats include: Felis lacustris ("Lake Cat"), once considered to be a lynx, but now believed to be a puma; F rexroadensis which could be either a lynx or a leopard; F protolyncis ("Early Lynx") and F longignathus, which both resemble Lynx."
(from Evolution Of The Wildcats)
"The earliest fossil records of the modern felid ancestors come from a period of just under 10 million years ago. However findings of such fossils are rare and it is difficult to piece together a comprehensive picture of the early relationship between the felid species.
The small cats, those grouped in the genus felis, are poorly represented, with the exception that is, of the ancestor of the modern day Lynx. The early descendants of the lynx first appeared around 4 million years ago and is known as the Issoire Lynx (Lynx issidorensis). This early lynx was larger than the forms found today and is said more to resemble those species from the genus felis, notably in having shorter legs than the lynx of today."
(from the book Pleistocene Mammals of North America by Anderson, Elaine, Kurtén, Björn):
"Issoire Lynx, Lynx issiodorensis (Croizet and Jobert), 1828 (Felis issiodorensis)
"The lynxes, often regarded as a subgenus of Felis, are characterized osteologically by the absence of a short tail, rather high compressed premolars, and, in more progressive species, a tendency to shortening of the face and body and lengthening of the limbs. Possible ancestral forms are known in the Hemphilian, the Ruscinian of Europe, and the Pliocene of Africa.
"The Issoire lynx, well documented over th entire Villafranchian in he Palearctic, was a rather primitive lynx with a comparatively long face and body and short limbs. The population was Holarctic in the early Irvingtonian, as shown by a record from Mullen I; the Nearctic form is classified as a distinct subspecies, Lynx issiodorensis kurteni. This species is probably ancestral to the living northern lynxes, the Nearctic Lynx canadensis and the Palearctic Lynx lynx."
(from an awesome site detailing cat prehistory)
"Lynx were known to be present in North America and Eurasia in Pliocene or Pleistocene time. The common ancestor of modern lynx and bobcats was probably a North American lynx of 6.7 million years ago. The extinct Issoire Lynx (Lynx issiodorensis) of 4 million years ago was larger than modern lynx with shorter legs. Modern lynx are smaller, a trend that is true in other species such as cheetah, jaguar, leopard and lion where the prehistoric forms were giants compared to their modern descendents. Their larger size was either an adaptation to colder climes or to cope with larger prey species. Another Pleistocene subspecies was Lynx rufus koakudsi.
"North American Pliocene small cats include: Felis lacustris ("Lake Cat"), once considered to be a lynx, but now believed to be a puma; F rexroadensis which could be either a lynx or a leopard; F protolyncis ("Early Lynx") and F longignathus, which both resemble Lynx."
(from Evolution Of The Wildcats)
"The earliest fossil records of the modern felid ancestors come from a period of just under 10 million years ago. However findings of such fossils are rare and it is difficult to piece together a comprehensive picture of the early relationship between the felid species.
The small cats, those grouped in the genus felis, are poorly represented, with the exception that is, of the ancestor of the modern day Lynx. The early descendants of the lynx first appeared around 4 million years ago and is known as the Issoire Lynx (Lynx issidorensis). This early lynx was larger than the forms found today and is said more to resemble those species from the genus felis, notably in having shorter legs than the lynx of today."
(from the book Pleistocene Mammals of North America by Anderson, Elaine, Kurtén, Björn):
"Issoire Lynx, Lynx issiodorensis (Croizet and Jobert), 1828 (Felis issiodorensis)
"The lynxes, often regarded as a subgenus of Felis, are characterized osteologically by the absence of a short tail, rather high compressed premolars, and, in more progressive species, a tendency to shortening of the face and body and lengthening of the limbs. Possible ancestral forms are known in the Hemphilian, the Ruscinian of Europe, and the Pliocene of Africa.
"The Issoire lynx, well documented over th entire Villafranchian in he Palearctic, was a rather primitive lynx with a comparatively long face and body and short limbs. The population was Holarctic in the early Irvingtonian, as shown by a record from Mullen I; the Nearctic form is classified as a distinct subspecies, Lynx issiodorensis kurteni. This species is probably ancestral to the living northern lynxes, the Nearctic Lynx canadensis and the Palearctic Lynx lynx."
