Patagonian Jaguar (Panthera onca mesembrina) is an extinct subspecies of jaguar that lived in southern Patagonia.
Discovery and Naming[]
Explorer Hermann Eberhard came up on a cave-bearing fossils of the ground sloth Mylodon, and found the fossil. In 1889 March, excavations were conducted by Erland and Otto Nordenskjöld, and found radius and ulna materials. Later that year, expeditions by Rodolfo Hauthal found several isolated postcranial material coming from a giant felid, which he donated to the museum in Argentina. The museum's director Santiago Roth erected the name "lemish listai", but it is invalid today. More fossils were found in the cave where it was first discovered.
Classification[]
A 2016 analysis placed it to true jaguar, however, the assignments were uncertain. The generic name is Panthera, The specific name is onca, and the subspecies name is mesembrina. It is housed in the genus Panthera as a pantherine member of Felidae.
Description[]
It is the largest subspecies of jaguar. It share characteristics with the closely related subspecies Panthera onca augusta, such as the presence of exposed foramina. The teeth are exceptionally large. The humerus is thick and has an expanded epicondylar crest. Roth also assigned pieces of discovered skin to this animal.
Paleoecology[]
It lived with Mylodon, horse Hippidion, and other camelids and was the apex predator.
Gallery[]
