''Panthera'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

within the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Felidae that was named and described by

Lorenz Oken Lorenz Oken (1 August 1779 – 11 August 1851) was a German naturalist, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist. Oken was born Lorenz Okenfuss (german: Okenfuß) in Bohlsbach (now part of Offenburg), Ortenau, Baden, and studied natural history ...

in 1816 who placed all the spotted cats in this group. Reginald Innes Pocock revised the classification of this genus in 1916 as comprising the

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

(''P. tigris''), lion (''P. leo''), jaguar (''P. onca''), and leopard (''P. pardus'') on the basis of common

cranial Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

features. Results of

genetic analysis Genetic analysis is the overall process of studying and researching in fields of science that involve genetics and molecular biology. There are a number of applications that are developed from this research, and these are also considered parts of ...

indicate that the

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...

(formerly ''Uncia uncia'') also belongs to the genus ''Panthera'' (''P. uncia''), a classification that was accepted by

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

assessors in 2008. The tiger, lion, jaguar and leopard are the only cat species with anatomical structures that enable them to roar; the snow leopard cannot. The primary reason for this was formerly assumed to be the incomplete

ossification Ossification (also called osteogenesis or bone mineralization) in bone remodeling is the process of laying down new bone material by cells named osteoblasts. It is synonymous with bone tissue formation. There are two processes resulting in ...

of the hyoid bone. However, new studies show the ability to roar is due to other morphological features, especially of the larynx.

Etymology

The word ''panther'' derives from

classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later period ...

''panthēra'', itself from the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''pánthēr'' (πάνθηρ).

Characteristics

In ''Panthera'' species, the dorsal profile of the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

is flattish or evenly convex. The frontal inter

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

al area is not noticeably elevated, and the area behind the elevation is less steeply sloped. The basi

axis is nearly horizontal. The inner chamber of the bullae is large, the outer small. The partition between them is close to the

external auditory meatus The ear canal (external acoustic meatus, external auditory meatus, EAM) is a pathway running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The adult human ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about in length and in diameter. Str ...

. The convexly rounded chin is sloping. All ''Panthera'' species have an incompletely ossified hyoid bone. A specially adapted larynx with proportionally larger

vocal folds In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speec ...

is covered in a large fibro-elastic pad. These characteristics enable them to roar. Only the snow leopard cannot roar, as it has shorter vocal folds of that provide a lower resistance to airflow; it was therefore proposed to be retained in the genus ''Uncia''. ''Panthera'' species can

prusten Prusten is a form of communicative behaviour exhibited by some members of the family Felidae. Prusten is also referred to as chuffing or chuffle (verb and noun). It is described as a short, low Sound intensity, intensity, non-threatening Animal com ...

, which is a short, soft, snorting sound; it is used during contact between friendly individuals. The roar is an especially loud call with a distinctive pattern that depends on the species.

Evolution

The geographic origin of the ''Panthera'' is most likely northern

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. ''Panthera blytheae'', the oldest known ''Panthera'' species, is similar in skull features to the snow leopard. The tiger, snow leopard, and clouded leopard genetic lineages dispersed in Southeast Asia during the Miocene. Genetic studies indicate that the Pantherinae, pantherine cats diverged from the subfamily Felinae between six and ten million years ago. The genus ''Neofelis'' is sister group, sister to ''Panthera''. The clouded leopard appears to have Genetic divergence, diverged about . ''Panthera'' diverged from other cat species about and then evolved into the species tiger about , snow leopard about and leopard about . Mitochondrial sequence data from fossils suggest that the American lion (''P. atrox'') is a sister lineage to Panthera spelaea, ''P. spelaea'' that diverged about . The snow leopard is nested within ''Panthera'' and is the sister species of the tiger. Results of a 2016 study based on analysis of biparental nuclear genomes suggest the following relationships of living ''Panthera'' species: The extinct European jaguar (''Panthera gombaszogensis''), was probably closely related to the modern jaguar. The first fossil remains were Excavation (archaeology), excavated in Olivola, in Italy, and date to . Fossil remains found in South Africa that appear to belong within the ''Panthera'' lineage date to about .

Classification

During the 19th and 20th centuries, various explorers and staff of natural history museums suggested numerous subspecies, or at times called "races", for all ''Panthera'' species. The taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock reviewed skins and skulls in the zoological collection of the Natural History Museum, London, and grouped subspecies described, thus shortening the lists considerably. Since the mid-1980s, several ''Panthera'' species became subjects of genetic research, mostly using blood samples of captive individuals. Study results indicate that many of the lion and leopard subspecies are questionable because of insufficient genetic distinction between them. Subsequently, it was proposed to group all African leopard populations to ''P. p. pardus'' and retain eight scientific names, subspecific names for Asian leopard populations. Based on genetic research, it was suggested to group all living sub-Saharan lion populations into ''P. l. leo''. Results of phylogeographic studies indicate that the West Africa, Western and Central African lion populations are more closely related to those in India and form a different clade than lion populations in Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa; southeastern Ethiopia is an Admixture (genetics), admixture region between North African and East African lion populations. Black panthers do not form a distinct species, but are Melanism, melanistic specimens of the genus, most often encountered in the leopard and jaguar.

Contemporary species

The following list of the genus ''Panthera'' is based on the taxonomic assessment in ''Mammal Species of the World'' and reflects the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy revised in 2017 by the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Species Survival Commission#Cat Specialist Group, Cat Specialist Group:

Extinct species and subspecies

Other, now invalid, species have also been described, such as ''Panthera crassidens'' from South Africa, which was later found to be based on a mixture of leopard and cheetah fossils.

Phylogeny

The cladogram below follows Mazák, Christiansen and Kitchener (2011). In 2018, results of a phylogenetic study on living and fossil cats were published. This study was based on the morphological diversity of the mandibles of saber-toothed cats, their speciation and extinction rates. The generated cladogram indicates a different relation of the ''Panthera'' species, as shown below:

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q127960 Panthera, Mammal genera Extant Miocene first appearances Taxa named by Lorenz Oken Taxa described in 1816