Short notes on a second tiger (Panthera tigris) from Late Pleistocene Borneo

ABSTRACT

The tiger (Panthera tigris) has an archaic past on the Malay Archipelago. Despite such, the tiger is poorly recorded on Borneo, with just a single partial metacarpal being previously reported. This study presents the first mandibular remains and just the second fossil tiger from Borneo. The specimen is dated to MIS 2. It is morphologically most like southern subspecies of tiger but much larger than any extant form. The fossil record of the Bornean tiger indicates the region maintained a population of tigers throughout at least MIS 2 to some portion of MIS 1. A mixture of ecological and anthropological factors is likely the cause of the disappearance of the Bornean tiger.

KEYWORDS:

• Panthera tigris
• Pleistocene
• Borneo

Acknowledgments

The author sincerely thanks the Stout family for their notification and graciously allowing access to the referred specimen. The author is also greatly indebted to J. R. Renga for guidance and access to fossil finds in the associated locality. Finally, the author thanks the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at the NMNH for access to comparative specimens.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.