Panthera principialis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Panthera principialis Temporal range: Pliocene ~ | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Pantherinae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | †P. principialis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Panthera principialis Hemmer, 2023 | |
Panthera principialis is an extinct species in the big cat genus Panthera that was described in 2023 based on fragmentary Pliocene-aged fossils from Laetoli, Tanzania. As the species was the oldest known Panthera species at the time, it was given the specific epithet "principialis", from the Latin word meaning "initial, original, in the beginning".[1]
