The large jaguar that lived in the past of México: a forgotten fossil

Authors

  • Damian Ruiz-Ramoni Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja, (CRILAR), S/N, F5301, Provincia de La Rioja, CONICET, Anillaco, La Rioja, Argentina.
  • Marisol Montellano-Ballesteros Departamento de Paleontología, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, México City, México
  • Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales Laboratorio de Arqueozoología, Subdirección de Laboratorios y Apoyo Académico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Moneda 16, Colonia Centro Histórico, Del. Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06010, México City, México
  • Arturo Caso Subsecretaría de Planeación y Política Ambiental, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Ejercito Nacional 223, Colonia Anáhuac, Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, C.P. 11320, México City, México.
  • Sasha Carvajal-Villarreal Predator Conservation A.C. Calzada al Desierto de Los Leones 4448, México City, México 01700

Keywords:

distribution, felid, San Josecito cave, Chapala, Panthera onca augusta.

Abstract

In the 1970’s, Oswald Mooser delivered to the Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, a fossil jaw recovered from the Chapala region, Jalisco, that he identified as Panthera onca. The collection label indicates doubts about this taxonomic assignment; an issue that remains unsolved. The aim of this work is to study the taxonomy and biogeographic implications of this material. With this aim, morphological and morphometric comparisons were made using fossil and current feline specimens. Additionally, a review of the fossil record of Pa. onca in Mexico was carried out using the material deposited in collections and reported in the literature. Our results indicate that the jaw from Jalisco belongs to a large Pleistocene form of jaguar historically called Pa. onca augusta. With the present record, there is a total of 10 paleontological localities in México where fossil jaguar records have been reported. Curiously, only one of these locations matches with the current distribution of this feline in North America, the San Josecito Cave in Nuevo León. With this information, there is evidence to confirm that the range distribution of the jaguar has been reduced significantly since the Pleistocene to the present.

Author Biographies

Damian Ruiz-Ramoni, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja, (CRILAR), S/N, F5301, Provincia de La Rioja, CONICET, Anillaco, La Rioja, Argentina.

Investigador Posdoctoral en el CRILAR, Anillaco, Argentina.

Marisol Montellano-Ballesteros, Departamento de Paleontología, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, México City, México

Investigadora, Instituto de Geología, UNAM

Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales, Laboratorio de Arqueozoología, Subdirección de Laboratorios y Apoyo Académico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Moneda 16, Colonia Centro Histórico, Del. Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06010, México City, México

Investigador del INAH, Laboratorio de Arqueozoología.

Arturo Caso, Subsecretaría de Planeación y Política Ambiental, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Ejercito Nacional 223, Colonia Anáhuac, Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, C.P. 11320, México City, México.

Investigador, Subsecretaría de Planeación y Política Ambiental, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales

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2019-12-11

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