Panthera tigris soloensis

Panthera tigris soloensis or Panthera sondaica,[2] known as the "Ngandong tiger",[3] is an extinct subspecies of the modern tiger species. It inhabited the Sundaland region of Indonesia during the Pleistocene epoch.[1]

Panthera tigris soloensis[1] /
Panthera sondaica[2]
Temporal range: Pleistocene
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Pantherinae
Genus: Panthera
Species:
P. tigris / sondaica
Subspecies:
†P. t. soloensis
Trinomial name
Panthera tigris / sondaica soloensis

Discoveries

Fossils of the Ngandong tiger were excavated primarily near the village of Ngandong, hence the common name. Only seven fossils are known, making study of the animal difficult.[3]

Description

The few remains of the Ngandong tiger suggest that it would have been about the size of a modern Bengal tiger. However, given the size of other remains, it may have been larger than a modern tiger. Heltler and Volmer (2007) estimated that a large male could have weighed up to 470 kg (1,040 lb), in which case, it would have been heavier than the largest extant tiger subspecies,[3][4][5] and similar in size to Smilodon populator and Panthera atrox, rendering it, along with these two other cats, among the largest felids ever known to have lived.[6]

Paleoecology

In addition to the remains of the Ngandong tiger, many other fossils from the same era have been discovered in Ngandong, like the proboscideans Stegodon trigonocephalus and Elephas hysudrindicus, the bovines Bubalus palaeokerabau and Bos paleosondaicus, the extant perissodactyls Tapirus indicus and Rhinoceros sondaicus, and a great variety of cervine species. Homo erectus fossils are also known from the area.[7]

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See also

References
  1. Koenigswald, G. H. R. von (1933). "Beitrag zur Kenntnis der fossilen Wirbeltiere Javas". Wetenschappelijke Mededeelingen Dienst Mijnbouw Nederlansch Oost-Indie 23: 1–127.
  2. Rabett, Ryan J. (2012). "3: Hominin Dispersal beyond Africa during the Lower and Middle Pleistocene". Human Adaptation in the Asian Palaeolithic: Hominin Dispersal and Behaviour during the Late Quaternary. Cambridge University Press. p. 64. ISBN 1-1395-6080-8.
  3. Ronald Tilson; Philip J. Nyhus, eds. (2009). Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of Panthera tigris. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-0809-4751-8.
  4. Hertler, C.; Vollmer, R. (2008). "Assessing prey competition in fossil carnivore communities β€” a scenario for prey competition and its evolutionary consequences for tigers in Pleistocene Java". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 257 (1βˆ’2): 67–80. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.09.004.
  5. Martin, P. S. (1984). Quaternary Extinctions. The University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1100-6.
  6. Sorkin, B. (2008). "A biomechanical constraint on body mass in terrestrial mammalian predators". Lethaia. 41 (4): 333–347. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2007.00091.x.
  7. Djubiantono, T. (2001). "Paleogeography of the Solo area and the Search for Lower and Middle Pleistocene Prehistoric Sites". In Simanjuntak, T.; Prasetyo, B.; Handini, R. (eds.). Sangiran: Man, Culture, and Environment in Pleistocene Times. Jakarta: The National Research Centre of Archaeology. pp. 257–259.
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