Lynx remains from the Pleistocene of Valdemino cave (Savona, Northwestern Italy), and the oldest occurrence of Lynx spelaeus (Carnivora, Felidae)

Abstract

Fossil lynxes are quite common in the Plio-Pleistocene mammal assemblages of Europe. Despite of this abundant record, the phylogeny of the genus Lynx and the relationships among the different recorded species are far from being resolved. The most controversial species of this group is Lynx pardinus spelaeus or Lynx spelaeus according to different scholars, recorded in the Middle and Late Pleistocene of France and Italy. Here, we describe unpublished remains of fossil lynxes from different layers of the Valdemino cave (Middle to Late Pleistocene, Savona, Italy). The reported evidence suggests that the lynx from Valdemino represents probably the most ancient well-documented material of L. spelaeus in Europe further reinforcing the idea of progressive size reduction and acquisition of more trenchant dentition in the European lineages of lynx (L. pardinus and L. spelaeus) during the Middle to Late Pleistocene.

The tale of a short-tailed cat: New outstanding Late Pleistocene fossils of Lynx pardinus from southern Italy

“…Due to the relative scarcity of lynx well-preserved cranial findings in Europe, many of the comparative analyses conducted so far are based on measurements of teeth (e.g., Bonifay, 1971;Ficcarelli and Torre, 1977;Werdelin, 1981;Testu, 2006;Cipullo, 2010;Ghezzo et al, 2015), among which the P 4 and M 1 seem to be the most informative (Supplementary figure 3). The length of the P 4 from Ingarano is undistinguishable from that of fossil L. pardinus (p.value > 0.01), smaller than those of L. issioderensis and L. lynx (p.value < 0.01), and larger than that of extant L. pardinus (p.value < 0.01).…”

“…0.6 Ma; Bonifay, 1971;Fosse et al, 2020), are reliably referable to L. pardinus. The lack of cranial remains for more than 1 Ma has forced research over the past fifty years to focus on dental morphology, but despite many efforts, only some tooth measurements and the presence/absence of the P 4 ectoparastyle and the M 1 metaconid have been suggested as possible diagnostic traits (e.g., Bonifay, 1971;Ficcarelli and Torre, 1977;Werdelin, 1981;Testu, 2006;Cipullo, 2010;Ghezzo et al, 2015). However, the latter features show a marked interindividual variation when observable in large samples (Boscaini et al, 2016).…”

“…for all European remains approximately comprised in the interval from 1.6 to 0.6 Ma, previously referred to L. issiodorensis or to 'cave lynx'. These include the records from Pirro Nord (Italy; Petrucci et al, 2013), Monte Argentario (Italy; Cherin et al, 2018), lower levels of Valdemino (Italy; Ghezzo et al, 2015), La Sartanette (France; Palombo and Valli, 2004), Sainzelles (France; Palombo and Valli, 2004), Le Vallonnet (France;Moull e et al, 2006), Solehilac (France;Kurt en, 1957), Sierra de Quibas (Spain;Montoya et al, 1999;2001b), Venta Micena (Spain;Moy a-Sol a et al, 1981;Boscaini et al, 2016), Untermassfeld (Germany;Hemmer, 2001), Mauer (Germany;Voelcker, 1930), Mosbach (Germany;Voelcker, 1930), and Apollonia 1 (Greece; Koufos, 1992;Koufos and Kostopoulos, 1997). Details are reported in Supplementary table 5.…”

“…In agreement with Werdelin's (1981) interpretation, many authors considered this taxon as a subspecies and probable ancestor of the modern L. pardinus, i.e., L. pardinus spelaeus (Kurt en and Granqvist, 1987;García-Perea, 1991;García-Perea, 1997;Palombo et al, 2008;Garrido and Arribas, 2008;Rodríguez-Hidalgo et al, 2020;Fosse et al, 2020). Conversely, other authors preferred to classify the 'cave lynx' as a distinct species, i.e., Lynx spelaeus (Bonifay, 1971;Ficcarelli and Torre, 1977;Arribas, 1994;Rustioni et al, 1995;Capasso Barbato et al, 1998;Testu, 2006;Ghezzo et al, 2015).…”

A new lynx mandible from the Early Pleistocene of Spain (La Puebla de Valverde, Teruel) and a taxonomical multivariate approach of medium-sized felids

“…This is because it was first attributed to the genus Felis by Jobert and Croizet (1828), while it was reassigned to Lynx by Gervais (1852) (and subsequent authors; e.g., Kurtén and Crusafont 1977;Kurtén 1978;Werdelin 1981;Montoya et al 1999, 2001, and attributed to Caracal Gray, 1843 by Depéret (1890). More recently, Morales et al (2003) revalidated the hypothesis by Depéret (1890)-thereby emphasizing the complexity in the taxonomic attribution of these felids-including the oldest representatives of L. issiodorensis into Caracal, and more specifically erecting the species Caracal depereti Morales, Soria, Montoya, Pérez and Salesa, 2003. However, it is worth noting that such a hypothesis has not been further considered in the literature and C. depereti is still classified as Lynx by most authors (Garrido 2008;Cherin et al 2013;Ghezzo et al 2015;Boscaini et al 2016;Terhune et al 2020;Mecozzi et al 2021). Indeed, our understanding of the evolutionary history of the lynxes is limited by the controversial taxonomic attribution of the Early Pleistocene material from southern Europe.…”