Ursus etruscus (the Etruscan bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Europe, Asia and North Africa during the Pliocene through Pleistocene, living from ~5.3 million to 100,000 years ago.

Ursus etruscus
Temporal range: Pliocene–Pleistocene
Fossils
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species:
U. etruscus
Binomial name
Ursus etruscus
Cuvier, 1823
Skull

Taxonomy edit

Ursus etruscus appears to have evolved from Ursus minimus and gave rise to the modern brown bear, Ursus arctos, and the extinct cave bear, Ursus spelaeus.[1] The range of Ursus etruscus was mostly limited to continental Europe, with specimens also recovered in the Great Steppe region of Eurasia. Fossil evidence for Ursus etruscus was recovered in Palestine, Greece,[2] Croatia, and Tuscany, Italy.

Some scientists have proposed that the early, small variety of U. etruscus of the middle Villafranchian era survives in the form of the modern Asian black bear.[3]


Morphology edit

Not unlike the brown bears of Europe in size, it had a full complement of premolars, a trait carried from the genus Ursavus.

Fossil distribution edit

Sites and specimen ages:

References edit

  1. ^ de Torres Pérez-Hidalgo, Trinidad José (1992). "The European descendants of Ursus etruscus C. Cuvier (Mammalia, Carnivora, Ursidae)". Boletín del Instituto Geológico y minero de España. 103 (4): 632–642.
  2. ^ Koufos, George D.; Konidaris, George E.; Harvati, Katerina (20 December 2018). "Revisiting Ursus etruscus (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Early Pleistocene of Greece with description of new material". Quaternary International. The Gates of Europe. 497: 222–239. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.043. ISSN 1040-6182. Retrieved 18 January 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  3. ^ Herrero, Stephen (6–9 November 1970). "Aspects of evolution and adaptation in American black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas) and brown and grizzly bears (U. arctos Linné) of North America" (PDF). Bears: Their Biology and Management. Second International Conference on Bear Research and Management. IUCN Publications New Series no. 23. Vol. 2. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: International Association for Bear Research and Management (published 1972). pp. 221–231. doi:10.2307/3872586. JSTOR 3872586. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Mestas de Con". Paleobiology Database. Cangas de Onis collection. collection list 49211.
  5. ^ "Tiglian fauna". Paleobiology Database. Strmica collection. collection list 40502. sediments containing Early Pleistocene or Tiglian fauna.

Further reading edit