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

ABSTRACT

The fossil record of lynxes provides clear evidence of a large range across the North Hemisphere during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. However, their origin, systematics and evolutionary relationships are still fraught with difficulties and controversy. Here we report a complete hemimandible of a medium-sized felid from the Early Pleistocene (MN17, middle Villafranchian, 2.05 Ma) site of La Puebla de Valverde (Teruel, Spain). Based on comparative and multivariate analyses of the lower dentition of 458 individuals of medium-sized Lynx, Caracal and Leptailurus, we confidently ascribe the remains to Lynx aff. issiodorensis. Although the dental proportions are somewhat different from those of the Eurasian L. issiodorensis (smaller canines and more elongated p4/m1), Lynx aff. issiodorensis shows affinities with the Issoire lynx from the contemporaneous site of Saint Vallier (France), sharing a similar morphology of the mandible, reduced canines, and long m1. We further test the hypothesis that examines the presence of the African/Asian Caracal in the European Plio/Pleistocene for C. depereti and C. issiodorensis, and discard the attribution of L. issiodorensis into Caracal. This mandible extends the record of the genus and contributes to update our understanding of the Lynx lineage and its variability within the European fossil record.

KEYWORDS:

• Quaternary
• Villafranchian
• Carnivora
• Felidae
• lynx
• Caracal

Acknowledgments

We thank P. Agnelli (MZUF), E. Cioppi (IGF), and J. Robles (ICP) for granting access to comparative material under their care. We are also grateful to L. Werdelin (NRM) who kindly provided raw data for living lynxes, and J. Meachen (DMU) for sharing comparative data of Caracal caracal and Leptailurus serval from Meachen-Samuels and Van Valkenburgh (2011). We are indebted to P. Mazza (UNIFI) for valuable comments on fossil Lynx, J. Morales (MNCN) for measurements of extant L. pardinus and extinct C. depereti, E. Roberts (UCBL) and D. Berthet (MC Lyon) for pictures of C. depereti, J. Madurell-Malapeira (ICP) for pictures and provide the catalogue number of the m1 (IPS 27251) of L. issiodorensis described in Kurtén and Crusafont (1977), L. Costeur (NMB) for pictures of L. issiodorensis from Etouaires; and Q. Jiangzou (Peking University) for pictures of L. issiodorensis shansius from China described in Kurtén and Werdelin (1984). The authors thank the Editor G. Dyke and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful criticism and comments on a previous version of the manuscript. This study was funded by the Government of Aragon (Group ref. E33_20R), the Spanish Research Projects PGC2018-094122-B-100 and PID2020-116220GB-I00 (AEI/ FEDER, UE), the Research Group UCM 910607, and the “Juan de la Cierva Formación” program (FJC2018-036669-I to A.V.) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Funding

This work was supported by the AEI/ FEDER, UE [PGC2018-094122-B-100,PID2020-116220GB-I00]; Research Group University Complutense of Madrid [UCM 910607]; Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities [FJC2018-036669-I]; Government of Aragon [Group ref. E33_20R].