Presence of Panthera gombaszoegensis (Kretzoi, 1938) in the late Middle Pleistocene of Biśnik Cave, Poland, with an overview of Eurasian jaguar size variability

In addition to a rich, contemporaneous vertebrate faunal record, the fossil locality of Biśnik Cave in southern Poland, has yielded some Eurasian jaguar elements from layers 19b–d. Through placing the faunal assemblage from the examined layers at around MIS 9 or MIS 10, the corresponding jaguar remains appear to be the among the stratigraphically youngest indication of Panthera gombaszoegensis in Europe. Detail analysis of size variability among Early and Middle Pleistocene individuals from varies sites showed no increase in size during Eurasian jaguar evolution. Jaguar size cannot be use as a biochronological tool, and should be linked with geographical and individual variability as well as with sexual dimorphism.