Panthera palaeosinensis

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Panthera palaeosinensis
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. palaeosinensis
Binomial name
Panthera palaeosinensis
(Zdansky, 1924)

Panthera palaeosinensis was an early Pleistocene species from northern China. It is often incorrectly referenced as the ancestral tiger, Panthera tigris, although it shares features with all living large cats. Recent thought places it close to the ancestry of the genus Panthera.[citation needed]

It was first described in 1924 as Felis paneosinensis by Otto Zdansky in his work "Jungtertiäre Carnivoren Chinas". Its exact date is not secured, though most likely two to three million years old. Panthera paleosinensis's skull has an A-P length of 262 mm (10.3 in) and a mandibular length of 169 mm (6.7 in) and the living creature would have appeared like a jaguar, stout and strong.[citation needed] The conical upper canines were not present in the fossil, but the lower canines bear the vertical grooves typical of Panthera.


  • Hemmer, H. 1967. Wohin gehört “Felis” palaeosinensis Zdansky, 1924 in systematischer Hinsicht? N. Jb. Geol. Paleont. Abh., 129:83-96.
  • Mazák, V. 1981. Panthera tigris. Mammalian Species, 152: 1-8. American Society of Mammalogists. (Available online)