Modern lions (Panthera leo) are believed to have reached Europe around 8000 years ago, after cave lions (P. spelaea) had disappeared around 14,500–14,000 years ago. Modern lions are also said to have dispersed up to the steppes of Ukraine and Hungary, without reaching the forests of Central Europe. In contrast, cave lions were widespread in western Europe. The paper intends to call attention to finds from Italy and Spain that bridge the alleged 6000 year-long absence of these formidable big cats. Fossil lion remains, both in the writers’ possession and accessible in the literature, from reliably radiocarbon-dated levels have been plotted against the 18Ocurve and mapped. Tomakeall datings comparable uncalibrated radiocarbon ages have been converted into calendar years. By piecing together the available information, lions appear to have inhabited western Europe uninterruptedly from the early Middle Pleistocene up to the Early Holocene. Moreover, all latest Pleistocene/early Holocene lion-bearing localities do not range farther than the 44th parallel north and are located at relatively high altitudes. The writers formulate a working hypothesis, speculating that western European lions formed a lineage inaugurated by P. spelaea-like representatives and ended by modern-fashioned lions. Whether P. spelaea is or not conspecific with P. leo would therefore be pointless. The latest western European representatives would in fact be convergent with their African counterparts. The latter accessed eastern Europe between 8 and 6.5–6 ka but were prevented from penetrating further west by the obtrusive presence of their autochthonous European relatives. Lions outlived all major Middle and Late Pleistocene cold events. They also survived the cold snaps of the Allerød and Younger Dryas, but they rapidly demised thereafter. Their area of distribution drastically shrank, possibly because of the ever more intrusive presence of modern human populations.

The last of the western European lions: a working hypothesis / Masseti M.; Mazza P.. - STAMPA. - (2012), pp. 5-23. (Intervento presentato al convegno 86th Annual Conference of the German Society of Mammalogy, The past, present and future of mammalian diversity tenutosi a Frankfurt (a.M.) nel 4-8 settembre 2012).

The last of the western European lions: a working hypothesis.

MASSETI, MARCO;MAZZA, PAUL
2012

Abstract

Modern lions (Panthera leo) are believed to have reached Europe around 8000 years ago, after cave lions (P. spelaea) had disappeared around 14,500–14,000 years ago. Modern lions are also said to have dispersed up to the steppes of Ukraine and Hungary, without reaching the forests of Central Europe. In contrast, cave lions were widespread in western Europe. The paper intends to call attention to finds from Italy and Spain that bridge the alleged 6000 year-long absence of these formidable big cats. Fossil lion remains, both in the writers’ possession and accessible in the literature, from reliably radiocarbon-dated levels have been plotted against the 18Ocurve and mapped. Tomakeall datings comparable uncalibrated radiocarbon ages have been converted into calendar years. By piecing together the available information, lions appear to have inhabited western Europe uninterruptedly from the early Middle Pleistocene up to the Early Holocene. Moreover, all latest Pleistocene/early Holocene lion-bearing localities do not range farther than the 44th parallel north and are located at relatively high altitudes. The writers formulate a working hypothesis, speculating that western European lions formed a lineage inaugurated by P. spelaea-like representatives and ended by modern-fashioned lions. Whether P. spelaea is or not conspecific with P. leo would therefore be pointless. The latest western European representatives would in fact be convergent with their African counterparts. The latter accessed eastern Europe between 8 and 6.5–6 ka but were prevented from penetrating further west by the obtrusive presence of their autochthonous European relatives. Lions outlived all major Middle and Late Pleistocene cold events. They also survived the cold snaps of the Allerød and Younger Dryas, but they rapidly demised thereafter. Their area of distribution drastically shrank, possibly because of the ever more intrusive presence of modern human populations.
2012
The past, present and future of mammalian diversity
86th Annual Conference of the German Society of Mammalogy, The past, present and future of mammalian diversity
Frankfurt (a.M.)
Masseti M.; Mazza P.
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/794604
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