INVESTIGADORES
BOSCAINI Alberto
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The outstanding sample of Lynx pardinus from the Late Pleistocene locality of ingarano (southern Italy)
Autor/es:
IURINO, DAWID A.; MECOZZI, BENIAMINO; MOSCARDELLA, A.; CHERIN, MARCO; BOSCAINI, ALBERTO; COSTEUR, LOÏC; MADURELL-MALAPEIRA, JOAN; PAVIA, MARCO; PROFICO, ANTONIO; SARDELLA, RAFFAELE
Lugar:
Benevento
Reunión:
Congreso; 18 Annual Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists; 2021
Resumen:
The pardel lynx, Lynx pardinus, is considered one of the most threatened living felids, currently distributed in restricted areas of the Iberian Peninsula. The evolutionary history of this medium-sized felid, as well as its relationships with the Middle-Late Pleistocene ?cave lynx? from Mediterranean Europe, have fuelled a decades-long debate among specialists. In this contribution, we present the richest European sample of Lynx pardinus from the Late Pleistocene (about 40,000 years) of Ingarano (Southern Italy). The collection counts 415 lynx remains represented by 346 postcranial and 68 craniodental elements, including two almost complete crania. This material was collected in the 1990s and previously attributed to Lynx lynx without a detailed study. The richness of the Ingarano sample allowed to acquire data on the morphological and biometric variability of fossil pardel lynx. Using traditional and CT-based methods we analysed and compared the lynx specimens from Ingarano with a large sample of extant and fossil (Pliocene?Late Pleistocene) lynxes from Europe. Our results allowed (1) to revise the taxonomy of European fossil lynxes, (2) to redefine the geographical distribution of the Late Pleistocene L. pardinus, and (3) to offer new insights on the evolutionary history of this iconic European felid. Finally, we also present the preliminary data on the inner cranial anatomy (brain and paranasal sinuses) obtained through CT analyses.