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Pleistocene Remains of Panthera Tigris (Linnaeus) Subspecies from Wanhsien, Szechwan, China, Compared with Fossil and Recent Tigers from Other Localities

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Pleistocene Remains of Panthera Tigris (Linnaeus) Subspecies from Wanhsien, Szechwan, China, Compared with Fossil and Recent Tigers from Other Localities AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES Published by Number 1346 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY May 8, 1947 New York City PLEISTOCENE REMAINS OF PANTHERA TIGRIS (LINNAEUS) SUBSPECIES FROM WANHSIEN, SZECHWAN, CHINA, COMPARED WITH FOSSIL AND RECENT TIGERS FROM OTHER LOCALITIES BY D. A. HOOIJER, I D.Sc. INTRODUCTION The remains of the tiger dealt with in the cumstances of occurrence and of collecting present paper form part of a collection of do not guarantee that the Yen Ching Kao fossil mammals secured for the American fauna is absolutely unified as to age. He is Museum of Natural History by the late inclined to think that the bulk of the fauna Dr. Walter Granger during the winters of is Pleistocene, although it is possible that a 1921-1922, 1922-1923, and 1925-1926. few Pliocene elements (Stegodon, Chalico- The exact locality is Yen Ching Kao, Wan- therium) are included. hsien, eastern Szechwan. A preliminary Brongersma's paper assembles previous description of part of the collection has been records of fossil tigers. Matthew and given by Matthew and Granger (1923), who Granger's paper, however, is mentioned as then considered the fauna to be probably the sole reference to the fossil tiger of upper Pliocene. In this paper the speci- China. Its synonymy iS3: mens were mentioned under the head Felis aff. tigris Linnaeus. They were sent to the Panthera tigris (Linnaeus) subspecies Leiden MIuseum of Natural History in 1937 ? Felis, KOKEN, 1885, Palaeont. Abhandl., at the request of Dr. L. D. Brongersma Berlin, vol. 3, pt. 2, p. 106, p1. 6, fig. 3 (?Y, ?A). a of fossil cats Felis aff. tigris, MATTHEW AND GRANGER, who had made study the 1923, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 48, p. from Java in the Dubois collection (Bron- 584, fig. 16 (W); YOUNG, 1932, Bull. Geol. Soc. gersma, 1935). The feline fossils fortu- China, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 388 (W); YOUNG, 1939, nately survived the war.2 They consist of ibid., vol. 19, no. 2, p. 320 (W). an com- F[elis] aff. tigris, PEI, 1934, Palaeont. Sinica, cranial remains, including almost ser. C, vol. 8, pt. 1, p. 132 (W). plete but crushed skull (figured by Mat- Felis acutidens, ZDANSKY (partim), 1928, Palae- thew and Granger, 1923, p. 585, fig. 16), ont. Sinica, ser. C, vol. 5, pt. 4, p. 48, p1. 4, and of limb and foot bones: a humerus, figs. 6-11 (C). an Felis acutidens, YOUNG, 1932, Bull. Geol. Soc. two metacarpals, a tibia, astragalus, China, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 388 (C). two calcanea, and five metatarsals. Felis sp., YOUNG, 1932, Bull. Geol. Soc. For comparison I used a series of recent China, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 387, fig. 5 (Y). tiger and lion skulls and skeletons, and the Felis cf. tigris, PEI, 1934, Palaeont. Sinica, ser. C, vol. 8, pt. 1, p. 130, pl. 23, fig. 3, pl. 24, fossil tiger remains from Java collected by figs. 1, 6, text figs. 40A, 41A, 42 (C); TEILHARD Eugene Dubois, now in the Leiden Mu- DE CHARDIN, 1936, Palaeont. Sinica, ser. C, vol. seum. 7, pt. 4, p. 15 (C). The age of the Chinese specimens is now F[elis8 tigris, PEI, 1934, Palaeont. Sinica, ser. C, vol. 8, pt. 1, p. 132 (A). regarded as lower Pleistocene. As Dr. Felis tigris, PEI, 1936, Palaeont. Sinica, ser. C, G. G. Simpson kindly wrote me, the cir- vol. 7, pt. 5, p. 52 (C); TEILHARD DE CHARDIN 1 Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, AND YOUNG, 1936, Palaeont. Sinica, ser. C, vol. Netherlands. 12, pt. 1, p. 9, pl. 1, figs. 1-2, pl. 2, figs. 1-2, text 2 During an air raid in December, 1944, some bombs figs. 1-2 (A). hit the building in Leiden where the main part of the Dubois collection was stored. Many specimens, es- pecially of proboscideans and deer, were lost; Pith- 3 A, Anyang; C, Chou Kou Tien; W, Wanhsien; ecanthropus was saved. Y, Yunnan. 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES [No. 1346 ? FelH youngi, PEI, 1934, Palaeont. Sinica, damaged. The upper carnassial is beveled ser. C, vol. 8, pt. 1, p. 133, pl. 23, figs. 1, 4, text away on the inner side. The lower teeth fig. 40B (C). are complete. Notes on the dentition of Loukashkin (1936, 1937) records Pan- this and the following specimens are given thera tigris longipilis (Fitzinger) from the below. Pleistocene of northern Manchuria, but unfortunately neither describes nor figures The second specimen (A.M.N.H. No. his specimens. 18737) is the anterior portion of a skull The skull in the Wanhsien collection of with the lower jaw in situ. That this, too, the American Museum of Natural History is a tiger is evident from the shape of the (A.M.N.H. No. 18624, fig. 1) was found anterior narial orifice (fig. 2) which is nar- with the lower jaw in situ. The specimen rowed below instead of being regularly had been subjected to a crushing force curved from side to side (cf. Boule, 1906, p. which acted especially in the middle of the 71, figs. 3-4). Of this specimen only the skull. The right nasal and maxillary are right P4 iS completely preserved. The placed on a higher level than the left, both canines are larger than in the foregoing zygomatic arches are fractured and dis- skull. placed, the brain case is distorted, and the A.M.N.H. No. 18741 comprises a frag- right bulla is missing. The right mandibu- ment of the left maxillary with P3, P4, and lar ramus is fractured posteriorly and dis- the alveolus of Ml. The carnassial is placed inward and upward. tiger-like; the protocone is well devel- It is impossible to reconstruct the exact oped. There is also a portion of the left shape of the anterior narial orifice and to ramus of a mandible with P3-M1. The establish whether the nasals are wedged in lower border is straight. between the frontals posteriorly beyond A.M.N.H. No. 18740 is the left ramus the maxillaries or not, but there remain of a lower jaw with the alveoli of the inci- other characters which show that the speci- sors, the entire canine, and the full set of men is a tiger. The interval between the permanent teeth. Only the lower portion bulla and the postglenoid process is greater of the masseteric fossa is preserved. The than in a lion's skull (cf. Haltenorth, 1936, lower edge of the ramus shows a slight p. 53, figs. 36, 71), and the orbital margin bulging below Mi. Recent tigers may show of the malar is more concave (ibid., figs. the same peculiarity (Leiden Museum, 38, 63). I do not agree with Haltenortli as Reg. No. 315, two specimens). A man- to the validity of the shape of the malar- dible from Chou Kou Tien was described maxillary suture as a specific character, by Pei (1934, p. 133) as a new species, although the shape of that suture in the Felis youngi, on account of the gently Wanhsien skull is perfectly in accord with convex lower border and the longer sym- that given by Haltenorth as typically tiger- physis and larger size as compared to like. Panthera tigris (Linnaeus). In the present The shape of the lower edge of the man- specimen the symphysis is even longer than dibular ramus is fully consistent with that in Pei's type specimen (74 mm. against 71.4 of the tiger, being slightly concave between mm. in the Chou Kou Tien jaw), and the the symphysis and the angular process. convexity of the lower edge of the ramus, This is well shown on the right side; the although more anterior and more strongly swelling on the left ramus below the car- marked than in our specimen, is occasion- nassial shown in Matthew and Granger's ally found in the tiger, too (Haltenorth, figure (1923, p. 5851) is the result of crush- 1936, p. 54). I shall return to the ques- ing. tion of size below. The incisor dentition is complete, but the A.M.N.H. No. 18738 includes five tips of the left canines have been broken specimens, all of young individuals: off. p2 iS missing on both sides, and P3 is 1. Fragment of left maxillary with dc, 1 I removed the piece of bone adhering to the man- C erupting, alveolus of p2, dm3, and erupt- dible below the anterior portion of the masseteric fossa, as not belonging to the skull. ing p4. 1947] PLEISTOCENE AND RECENT TIGERS 3 2. Similar fragment, but of the right (Leiden Museum, Reg. No. 3319), and the side, and without dc. difference between length and width may 3. Small fragment of right maxillary be less than in the fossil specimen. The with do, C erupting, and p2. latter is larger, as a whole, than its recent 4. Right ramus of mandible with cen- homologues examined by me, but it is tral incisors just in place, I3, C, and erupt- smaller than the p2 from Java which von ing M1. Koenigswald (1933, p. 9) refers to Feliopsis 5. Small anterior fragment of right palaeojavanica Stremme, a species which lower jaw with C in alveolus, dm3, dm4, has been placed by Brongersma (1935, p. and the germ of the carnassial. 59) in the synonymy of Panthera tigris The incisors in the two skulls have not (Linnaeus). been freed of matrix behind, and offer no P3 presents a fair amount of variation in interesting points for description. In fact, the development of the metacone, which is since Koken's (1885) figure of an incisor incipient in the complete Wanhsien skull of uncertain origin which Schlosser (1903, and distinctly developed in A.M.N.H.
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