IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Boscaini, A.; Alba, D.M.; Beltran, J.F.; Moya-Sola, S.; Madurell-Malapeira, J. | |
| Latest Early Pleistocene remains of _Lynx pardinus_ from the Iberian Peninsula: taxonomy and evolutionary implications | |
| 2016 Quaternary Science Reviews (143): 96-106 | |
The Iberian lynx (_Lynx pardinus_) is a critically endangered felid that, during the last fifty years, has been subject to an intensive conservation program in an attempt to save it from extinction. This species is first recorded at ca. 1.7e1.6 Ma (late Villafranchian, late Early Pleistocene) in NE Iberian Peninsula, roughly coinciding with the large faunal turnover that occurred around the middle to late Villafranchian boundary. Here we describe the largest collection of _L. pardinus_ remains available to date from the Iberian late Early Pleistocene (Epivillafranchian), including localities from the Vallparad¡s Section (VallŠs-PenedŠs Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula) and Cueva Victoria (Cartagena, SE Iberian Peninsula). The morphology and biometry of the studied material attests to the widespread occurrence of _L. pardinus_ in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula since the latest Early Pleistocene, i.e., about 0.5 million years earlier than it was generally accepted (i.e., at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene). Based on the features observed in the large sample studied in this paper, we conclude that _Lynx spelaeus_ is a junior synonym of _L. pardinus_ and further propose to assign all the Epivillafranchian and younger fossil lynxes from SW Europe to the extant species _L. pardinus_. Due to the arrival of the Eurasian lynx (_Lynx lynx_) into Europe at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, the attribution of specimens younger than MIS 5e to either this species or _L. pardinus_ solely on morphological grounds has proven equivocal. Here we discuss the main diagnostic features of both species of European lynxes and further review their evolutionary history and paleobiogeography throughout the Pleistocene. |
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