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'''Panthera''' is a genus of the family Felidae (the cats), which contains four well-known living species: the Lion, the Tiger, the Jaguar, and the Leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats. One meaning of the word '''panther''' is to designate cats of this subfamily. The name comes from the Greek πάνθηρ, ''panther'', which means "all-hunting".
Only these four cat species have the anatomical changes enabling them to . The primary reason for this was assumed to be the incomplete ossification of the hyoid bone. However, new studies show that the ability to roar is due to other morphological features, especially of the larynx. The Snow Leopard, ''Uncia uncia'', which is sometimes included within ''Panthera'', does not roar. Although it has an incomplete ossification of the hyoid bone, it lacks the special morphology of the larynx.^[1]

Contents

Evolution

Species, subspecies, and populations

Taxa

References

Evolution

Like much of the Felidae family, ''Panthera'' has been subject to much debate and taxonomic revision. At the base of the genus is probably the extinct felid ''Viretailurus schaubi'', which is sometimes also regarded as an early member of the Puma group. ''Panthera'' has likely derived in Asia, but the definite roots of the genus remain unclear. The divergence of the ''Pantherine cats'' (including the living genera ''Panthera'', ''Uncia'' and ''Neofelis'') from the ''Felinae'' (including all other living cat species) has been ranked between six and ten Ma The Late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment., Johnson, W.E., Eizirik, E., Pecon-Slattery, J., Murphy, W.J., Antunes, A., Teeling, E. & O'Brien, S.J., , , Science, 2006 . The fossil record points to the emergence of ''Panthera'' just two to 3.8 million years ago^[2].
Morphological and genetic studies have suggested that the tiger was the first of the recent ''Panthera'' species to emerge from the lineage Phylogenetic studies of pantherine cats (Felidae) based on multiple genes, with novel application of nuclear beta-fibrinogen intron 7 to carnivores, Yu L & Zhang YP, , , Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2005 , but this remains unresolved. About 1,9 Million years ago the jaguar obviously demerged from the remaining group, which contained ancestors of leopard and lion. Lion and leopard seem to have separated about 1 to 1,25 Million years ago from another. The Snow Leopard was seen originally at the base of the ''Panthera'', but newer molecular studies suggest, that it may be even a sister species of the Leopard. A prehistoric feline, which was probably closely related to the modern Jaguar is ''Panthera gombaszogensis'', often called European Jaguar. This species appeared first around 1.6 Million years ago in what is now Olivola in Italy.
The Clouded Leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa'') is generally placed at the basis of the ''Panthera'' group, but is not included in the genus ''Panthera'' itself. Phylogenetic studies of pantherine cats (Felidae) based on multiple genes, with novel application of nuclear beta-fibrinogen intron 7 to carnivores, Yu L & Zhang YP, , , Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2005 Phylogenetic reconstruction of the Felidae using 16S rRNA and NADH-5 mitochondrial genes, Johnson WE & Obrien SJ, , , Journal of Molecular Evolution, 1997 Molecular Evolution of Mitochondrial 12S RNA and Cytochrome b Sequences in the Pantherine Lineage of Felidae, Dianne N. Janczewski, William S. Modi, J. Claiborne Stephens, and Stephen J. O'Brien, , , Molecular Biology and Evolution, 1996
Many studies place the Snow Leopard within the genus ''Panthera'' but there is no consensus whether the scientific name of the Snow Leopard should remain ''Uncia uncia''^[3] or be moved to ''Panthera uncia''.
The following phylogenetic tree shows the results of recent genetic research into the evolutionary history of the Panthera and Neofelis genera.

Panthera ancestor	6.4 mya <	<	<	<	Lion	Africa
					Leopard	Asia & Africa
				Jaguar		North America & South America
			<	Tiger		Asia
				Snow leopard
		<	Clouded leopard
			Bornean clouded leopard

Species, subspecies, and populations

There have been many subspecies of all four ''Panthera'' species suggested; however, many of the Leopard and Lion subspecies are questionable. Recently it has been proposed that all sub-saharan populations of Leopards are all the same Leopard subspecies, and all sub-saharan populations of Lions likewise belong to the same Lion subspecies, as they do not have sufficient genetic distinction between them. Some prehistoric Lion subspecies have been described from historical evidence and fossils. They may have been separate species.
The 'Black panther' is not a distinct species but just a common name for black specimens of the genus, most often encountered in Jaguar and Leopard species.

Taxa

(Extinct species and subspecies are indicated with the symbol †)

★ Genus '''Panthera'''

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★ ''Panthera combaszoe'' (a primitive feline) †

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★ ''Panthera crassidens'' (a primitive leopard) †

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★ ''Panthera gombaszoegensis'' (European jaguar) †

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★ ''Panthera leo'' (Lion)

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★ ''Panthera leo atrox'' - American Lion or North American cave lion †

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★ ''Panthera leo azandica'' - North East Congo lion

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★ ''Panthera leo bleyenberghi'' - Katanga lion or Southwest African lion

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★ ''Panthera leo europaea'' - European lion †

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★ ''Panthera leo fossilis'' - Early Middle Pleistocene European cave lion †

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★ ''Panthera leo hollisteri'' - Congo lion

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★ ''Panthera leo kamptzi''

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★ ''Panthera leo krugeri'' - South African lion or Southeast African lion

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★ ''Panthera leo leo'' - Barbary lion †

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★ ''Panthera leo melanochaita'' - Cape lion †

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★ ''Panthera leo massaica'' - Masai lion

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★ ''Panthera leo melanochaita''

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★ ''Panthera leo nyanzae''

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★ ''Panthera leo persica'' - Asiatic lion

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★ ''Panthera leo sinhaleyus'' - Sri Lanka lion or Ceylon lion. †

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★ ''Panthera leo spelaea'' - Eurasian cave lion †

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★ ''Panthera leo senegalensis'' - West African lion, or Senegal lion

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★ ''Panthera leo vereshchagini'' - East Siberian and Beringian cave lion †

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★ ''Panthera onca'' (Jaguar)

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★ ''Panthera onca arizonensis''

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★ ''Panthera onca centralis''

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★ ''Panthera onca goldmani''

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★ ''Panthera onca hernandesii''

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★ ''Panthera onca onca''

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★ ''Panthera onca palustris''

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★ ''Panthera onca paraguensis''

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★ ''Panthera onca peruviana''

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★ ''Panthera onca veracruscis''

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★ ''Panthera onca mesembrina'' - Pleistocene South American Jaguar †

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★ ''Panthera onca augusta'' - Pleistocene North American Jaguar†

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★ ''Panthera palaeosinensis'' (Pleistocene feline; Probably ancestral to the tiger) †

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★ ''Panthera pardoides'' (a primitive leopard) †

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★ ''Panthera pardus'' (Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus delacouri'' (Indo-Chinese Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus fusca'' (Indian Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus japonensis'' (North China Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus kotiya'' (Sri Lanka Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus melas'' (Java Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus nimr'' (Arabian Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus orientalis'' (Amur Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus pardus'' (African Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus saxicolor'' (Persian Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera pardus sickenbergi'' (European leopard} †

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★ ''Panthera pardus tulliana'' (Anatolian Leopard)

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★ ''Panthera (Viretailurus) schaubi'' (prehistoric feline) †

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★ ''Panthera schreuderi'' (prehistoric feline) † - probably junior synonym of European Jaguar Biostratigraphic & palaeoecological implications of new fossil felid material from the Plio-Pleistocene site of Tegelen, the Netherlands, O'Regan, H & Turner, A, , , Palaeontology, 2004

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★ ''Panthera tigris'' (Tiger)

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★ ''Panthera tigris altaica'' (Siberian Tiger)

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★ ''Panthera tigris amoyensis'' (South China Tiger)

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★ ''Panthera tigris balica'' (Balinese Tiger) †

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★ ''Panthera tigris corbetti'' (Indochinese Tiger)

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★ ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' (Javan Tiger) †

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★ ''Panthera tigris sumatrae'' (Sumatran Tiger)

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★ ''Panthera tigris tigris'' (Bengal Tiger)

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★ ''Panthera tigris virgata'' (Caspian Tiger) †

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★ ''Panthera toscana'' (Tuscany lion or Tuscany jaguar) † - probably junior synonym of European Jaguar

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★ ''Panthera youngi'' (a prehistoric Chinese lion-like cat) †

References

1. Walker's Mammals of the World, , Ronald M., Nowak, Johns Hopkins University Press, , ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
2. Turner A (1987) New fossil carnivore remains from the Sterkfontein hominid site (Mammalia: Carnivora). Ann Transvall Mus 34:319–347
3. Felid Taxon Advisory Group: Alan H. Shoemaker (1996) Taxonomic and Legal Status of the Felidae


★ A. Turner: ''The big cats and their fossil relatives''. Columbia University Press, 1997.ISBN 0-231-10229-1