Panthera zdanskyi
Panthera zdanskyi, also known as the Longdan tiger, is an extinct pantherine species that is seen as a close relative of the modern tiger. Fossils were excavated in northwestern China's Gansu province. Etymology. "Panthera zdanskyi" was first named by Ji H. Mazák, Per Christiansen and Andrew C. Kitchener in 2011. The specific name honors the Austrian paleontologist Otto A. Zdansky for his contributions to the understanding of Neogene Chinese fossil carnivorans. Description. The holotype of "Panthera zdanskyi" consists of a nearly complete skull and mandible stored at the Babiarz Institute of Paleontological Studies. It is the oldest  known complete pantherine skull ever found, and indicates that the animal was about the size of a jaguar. The paratype comprises a rostrum, premaxilla and maxilla and much of the dentition, originally referred to "Panthera palaeosinensis". It was collected in 2004 in the east slope of Longdan, south of Dongxiang Autonomous County in the Lower Pleistocene "Equus" layer, dating to the Gelasian stage of the earliest Pleistocene, about 2.55–2.16 million years ago. Phylogeny. The cladogram below follows Mazák, Christiansen and Kitchener (2011).