Panthera blytheae: The Old Known Great Cat Originates in Plioecene Neocene Tibet

The oldest big cat fossil ever found – which fills in a significant gap in the fossil record – was discovered on a paleontological dig in Tibet, scientists announced today.

A skull from the new species, named Panthera blytheae, was excavated and described by a team led by Jack Tseng – a PhD student at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the time of the discovery, and now a postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York.

"This find suggests that big cats have a deeper evolutionary origin than previously suspected," Tseng said.

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