Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777

Marciszak, A, Stefaniak, K & Gornig, W, 2017, Large mammals (carnivores, artiodactyls) from Solna Jama Cave (Bystrzyckie Mts, Southwestern Poland) in the context of faunal changes in the postglacial period of Central Europe, Palaeontologia Electronica (Bellingham, Wash.) 11 (4), pp. 1-37 : 19

Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777

Specimens. Right mandible without ramus and with c1-m1 (JSJ/Fs/1).

Measurements. Mandible (JSJ/Fs/1): 4, 42.68 mm; 5, 36.42 mm; 6, 6.58 mm; 7, 23.53 mm; 8, 14.46 mm; 9, 5.65 mm; 11, 28.86 mm; 12, 18.72 mm; 13, 6.21 mm; 16, 11.67 mm; 17, 4.83 mm; c1- L, 6.03 mm; c1-B, 3.74 mm; p3-1, 6.48 mm; p3-2, 4.32 mm; p3-3, 4.57 mm; p3-4, 2.43 mm; p3-5, 2.92 mm; p4-1, 8.45 mm; p4-2, 4.54 mm; p4-3, 5.37 mm; p4-4, 2.95 mm; p4-5, 3.64 mm; m1-1, 9.82 mm; m1-2, 4.71 mm; m1-3, 5.11 mm; m1-4, 4.92 mm; m1-5, 6.33 mm; m1-6, 3.42 mm; m1-7, 4.31 mm. See Appendices 5-7 for measured parts.

Description. With the length of m1 of ca. 9.8 mm and the quite massive mandible body, the individual from Solna Jama was classified as a big male. The morphology is characteristic of the recent European form of the nominate subspecies. Contrary to some specimens, the lower margin of the mandible body is almost straight and lacks the curve under p4. The diastema is long (length: 6.58 mm) and is within the range of variation of different modern populations, where the average values are ca. 5.8–6.3 mm ( Kurtén, 1965b). These measurements considerably exceed those of the lower and middle Pleistocene forms, for which a proportionally short diastema is regarded as diagnostic ( Kurtén, 1965b; Barycka, 2008). All the preserved cheek teeth are proportionally low-crowned and narrow. The protoconid of p4 is long, but quite low, instead of being short and high as in the earlier forms ( Kurtén, 1965b).

Remarks. Felis silvestris is very rarely found in the Pleistocene Central European deposits. Most of the so-called “fossil” individuals, whose age was estimated based on biostratigraphical or other indirect evidence, in most cases turned out to be postglacial subfossils. The same conclusion was reached during a detailed revision of the Polish material ( Barycka, 2008). The results were confirmed by a few radiocarbon dates, which showed a young age of these remains (Nadachowski, personal commun., 2015). Except few individuals, the specimens were younger than 12 Ka, like the specimen from Solna Jama Cave.