P. l. melanochaita including:
- †Cape lion P. l. melanochaita sensu stricto
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|Jaguar P. onca
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|Leopard P. pardus <br />Javan leopard P. p. melas <br />Arabian leopard P. p. nimr <br />P. p. tulliana <br />Amur leopard P. p. orientalis <br />Indochinese leopard P. p. delacouri <br />Sri Lankan leopard P. p. kotiya
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|Tiger P. tigris
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|style="white-space: nowrap;"|P. t. tigris including:
- Bengal tiger P. t. tigris sensu stricto
- †Caspian tiger
- Siberian tiger
- South China tiger
- Indochinese tiger
- Malayan tiger
Sunda Island tiger P. t. sondaica
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|Snow leopard P. uncia
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Extinct species and subspecies
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! Species and subspecies !! Distribution
!Temporal range!! Notes
!Images
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|Panthera atrox
|North America, with dubious remains in South America.
|0.13 to 0.013 MYA
|Commonly known as the American lion, P. atrox is thought to have descended from a basal P. spelaea cave lion population isolated south of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, and then established a mitochondrial sister clade circa 200,000 BP. It was sometimes considered a subspecies either under the nomenclature of P. leo One of the largest Panthera species. Became extinct around 13,000-12,000 years ago.
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|Panthera balamoides
|Mexico
|~0.13 MYA
|Dubious, other authors suggest that the remains are actually of the extinct bear Arctotherium instead.
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|Panthera fossilis
|Europe and Asia
|0.68 to 0.25 MYA
|Extinct species of lion known from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Asia. One of the largest known species of Panthera. Considered to be the ancestor of P. spelaea.
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|Panthera gombaszogensis
|Europe, possibly Asia and Africa
|2.0 to 0.35 MYA
|Ranged across Europe, as well as possibly Asia and Africa from around 2 million to 350,000 years ago. Often suggested to be the ancestor of the living jaguar (Panthera onca), and sometimes referred to as the "European jaguar". Panthera schreuderi and Panthera toscana are considered junior synonyms of P. gombaszogensis. It is occasionally classified as a subspecies of P. onca.
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|Panthera palaeosinensis
|Northern China
|~3 MYA
|Initially thought to be an ancestral tiger species, but several scientists place it close to the base of the genus Panthera At least three recent studies considered Panthera zdanskyi likely to be a synonym of P. palaeosinensis.
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|Panthera principialis
|Laetoli site in Tanzania
|~3.7 MYA
|A lion-sized species described in 2023. 20% larger than the similar P. shawi, which it was potentially ancestral to.
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|Panthera shawi
|South Africa
|~3 MYA
|The holotype is a single upper canine larger than that of the extant lion; other sparse remains are known.
|0.6 to 0.013 MYA
|Commonly known as the cave lion or steppe lion. Originally spelaea was classified as a subspecies of the extant lion P. leo. Results of recent genetic studies indicate that it belongs to a distinct species, namely P. spelaea that is most closely related to the modern lion among living Panthera species. Other genetic results indicate that P. fossilis also warrants status as a species. It became extinct around 14,500-14,000 years ago.
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|Panthera youngi
|China
|~0.35 MYA
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|Panthera zdanskyi
|Gansu province of northwestern China
|2.55 to 2.16 MYA
|It was initially considered to be a close relative of the tiger.
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|Panthera leo sinhaleyus
|Sri Lanka
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|This lion subspecies was described on the basis of two teeth.
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|Panthera onca augusta
|North America
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|May have lived in temperate forests across North America
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|Panthera onca mesembrina
|South America
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|May have lived in grasslands in South America, unlike the modern jaguar
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|Panthera pardus spelaea
|Europe
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|Closely related to Asiatic leopard subspecies,
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|Panthera tigris acutidens
|Much of Asia
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|Not closely related to modern tiger subspecies
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|Panthera tigris soloensis
|Java, Indonesia
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|Not closely related to modern tiger subspecies A "Panthera dhokpathanensis" was briefly referenced in 1986 in a report on apparent new carnivorans from the Dhok Patha region in the Siwaliks, but as no description was provided this name is a nomen nudum.
Phylogeny
Results of a 2016 study based on analysis of biparental nuclear genomes suggest the following relationships of living Panthera species:
[[File:Two cladograms for Panthera.svg|thumbnail|Two cladograms proposed for Panthera. The upper one is based on phylogenetic studies by Johnson et al. (2006), The lower cladogram is based on a study by Davis et al. (2010)
See also
- Panthera hybrid
- Panther (legendary creature)