The ancient ancestors of jaguars were found in South Asia

fossil material includes an incomplete skull and some scattered jaw fragments and teeth. In response to the difficulty of distinguishing fossils of leopard teeth, the researchers studied in detail the tooth characteristics of the present-day leopard genus big cats, and used a large number of statistical methods of morphometry and morphotype to give a new set of reference feature tables for identifying scattered teeth of leopard species. This set of tables not only helps to determine that the leopard species in South Asia belong to the Gambazog leopard, but also provides a good standard for the identification of the leopard genus by other scholars.
By comparing this with other materials from the Gambazog leopard, the researchers determined that the Gambazog leopard in South Asia and the Georgian Gambazog leopard in West Asia were very close, most likely representing a record of the population's further migration to South Asia. By combing through the known fossil records, the researchers collated the approximate time and path of the jaguar's migration: the earliest fossil record of the jaguar was Kromdraai (1.9 Ma) in South Africa. Around this time, the jaguars moved out of Africa and into Europe and West Asia.
jaguars have long existed in Europe and continued into the late Mesoville period (approximately 0.3 Ma), while a unit entering Western Asia continues to spread, appearing in Central and South Asia at 1-1.4 Ma. The earliest fossil record in North America originated in Hamilton Cave, West Virginia, from the late 1980s to 0.85 Ma. The biggest uncertainty along this route now comes from the distribution of the jaguar branch in East Asia, which needs to be revealed by more research in the future.
another question about the evolution of the jaguar branch classification is whether the Gambazog leopard of the Old World is a subsegre of the living jaguar or an independent species. Different scholars have not reached a consensus in this respect.
study found some significant differences between the living jaguar and the Gambazog leopard in Eurasia, such as the degradation of the teeth of the living jaguar dog and the stout front molars. These characteristics may be related to the jaguar's special eating habits, i.e. the ability to prey on small and medium-sized hard-shelled animals such as kemen, turtles,and so on. These species are relatively few or missing in the Old World.
researchers therefore believe that the Gambazog leopard in the Old World may have some differences in ecological habits with the current jaguar, which may be closer to other leopards belonging to big cats (i.e., hoofed staples). The researchers therefore support that the Gambazog leopard of the Old World should be an effective species independent of the living jaguar, not a subsethic of the latter.
jaguar, also known as jaguar, is the largest cat ever born in the New World. Pumas are now distributed in Central and South America, but studies of molecular systems development suggest that the jaguar belongs to the African cat, forming a branch with Panthera pardus and a lion, and is the earliest living member of the branch. This suggests that jaguars should have originated in Africa and spread through migration to North and South America.
In fact, long before evidence of molecular biology emerged, European scholars Hemmer et al. had identified panthera gombaszogensis, a genus of the European Emerging Genus, as very close to the jaguar in form and possibly representing the jaguar's ancestors in the Old World.
view has been shared by most scholars in recent years. Under this hypothesis, however, the New World's jaguars should have evolved from Europe to North America from the Gambazog leopards of the Old World, the only migration route through Asia, the Bering Land Bridge, and eventually North America. However, the fossil record of the Gambazog leopard in Asia is very rare, and two valid records are known to come from Central and West Asia.
researchers also reported other cat materials at the same fossil site, including two suspected giant tiger Megantereon and a cat yako subsethic. Among them giant tiger material individual is huge, and known gianttiger are different, but limited to the damaged nature of the material, for the time being this record can not be more explored. (Source: Cui Xueqin, China Science Daily)
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