Gigantic lion, Panthera leo, from the Pleistocene of Natodomeri, eastern Africa
Gigantic lion, Panthera leo, from the Pleistocene of Natodomeri, eastern Africa
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巨型狮子，Panthera leo，来自东非纳托多梅里更新世
DOI：
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发表时间：
2017
影响因子：
1.4
通讯作者：
L. Werdelin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
F. Manthi;F. Brown;Michael Plavcan;L. Werdelin
抽象的。
描述了来自肯尼亚西北部纳托多梅里的一头狮子的部分头骨。纳托多梅里遗址与Kibish组的I段相关，其年代为195ka至205ka左右。这个头骨非常大，相当于欧亚大陆更新世最大的洞穴狮子(Panthera spelaea[Goldfuss，1810])，比之前所知的任何非洲狮子，无论是活的还是化石的，都要大得多。我们推测，这个个体代表了一个以前未知的狮子种群或亚种，存在于非洲东部的中更新世晚期和晚更新世，而不是当时气候驱动的狮子体型增加的迹象。这就提出了关于我们对晚更新世狮子进化模式和原因的理解程度的问题。
Abstract.
The partial skull of a lion from Natodomeri, northwest Kenya is described. The Natodomeri sites are correlated with Member I of the Kibish Formation, dated to between 195 ka and ca. 205 ka. The skull is remarkable for its very great size, equivalent to the largest cave lions (Panthera spelaea [Goldfuss, 1810]) of Pleistocene Eurasia and much larger than any previously known lion from Africa, living or fossil. We hypothesize that this individual represents a previously unknown population or subspecies of lion present in the late Middle and Late Pleistocene of eastern Africa rather than being an indication of climate-driven size increase in lions of that time. This raises questions regarding the extent of our understanding of the pattern and causes of lion evolution in the Late Pleistocene.