Panthera, Oken, 1816

O’Regan, Hannah J. & Steininger, Christine, 2017, Felidae from Cooper’s Cave, South Africa (Mammalia: Carnivora), Geodiversitas 39 (2), pp. 315-332 : 325

Panthera cf. P. leo

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — CD 8282, left 5th metatarsal ( Table 3).

DIAGNOSIS AND DISCUSSION

CD 8282 is a very large pantherine metatarsal. There are minor morphological differences between CD 8282 and the modern lions – the proximal articulation is more ventrally placed in the fossil, and the MT4 facet is round in CD 8282 and more oval in the lion. However, it is clearly not Homotherium spp. , as it lacks the distinctive rectangular proximal articulation that are seen in that genus, and it is almost twice the size of the Drimolen Dinofelis specimens. Broom (1948) designated a large pantherine canine of uncertain provenance (either from Bolts Farm or Sterkfontein) as Felis shawi Broom, 1948 , and Ewer (1956) referred some large lion-like specimens from Kromdraai A to Panthera ? shawi . Turner (1986) examined fossil lion material from Sterkfontein and Swartkrans and indicated that the South African fossil lions were larger than their modern conspecifics and similar in size to the Middle and Late Pleistocene lions from Europe. However, Geraads (2008; 2016) discusses the possibility of a large, non-lion pantherine in North Africa, and it is also possible that the large Cooper’s specimen represents this taxon.