Panthera leo sinhaleyus Temporal range: Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Feliformia
Family:	Felidae
Subfamily:	Pantherinae
Genus:	Panthera
Species:	P. leo
Subspecies:	†P. l. sinhaleyus
Trinomial name
†Panthera leo sinhaleyus Deraniyagala, 1938

Panthera leo sinhaleyus is an extinct prehistoric subspecies of lion, excavated in Sri Lanka. It is believed to have become extinct prior to the arrival of humans c. 37,000 years BCE.^[1]

History and taxonomy

In 1938, the paleontologist Paulus Deraniyagala named a new prehistoric subspecies of lion, Panthera leo sinhaleyus, based on a single left lower carnassial (M1) tooth excavated from deposits in Kuruwita as the holotype and a damaged right lower canine tooth from the same location as a "metatype".^[2] It was further described, but named only as Panthera leo, in a 2005 study of felid fossils from the Kuruwita site.^[1]

Description

Deraniyagala called the holotype "narrower and more elongate" but otherwise provided little information on what distinguished P. l. sinhaleyus from other lion subspecies, and distinguished it only from the teeth of tigers by its larger size. The 2005 study also described it in more detail.^[1]

See also

• Asiatic lion
• Panthera fossilis

References