The evolution of the guild of large Carnivora of the British Isles during the Middle and Late Pleistocene

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Author: Turner, Alan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2009
• Subjects: Canis lupus; Ursus arctos
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1278; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.1278; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.1278

Abstract Recent refinements to the dating of a number of Middle and Late Pleistocene localities and fossil mammal assemblages from the British Isles, and their correlation with Marine Isotope Stages (MIS), permit a more detailed assessment of the evolution of the guild of larger Carnivora. By around 0.4–0.5 Ma (MIS 13–11) or just after, the more archaic elements of the guild, such as the sabretoothed cat Homotherium latidens , the medium‐sized pantherine Panthera gombaszoegensis and the large dog Canis lycaonoides , had disappeared and had been replaced, or were being replaced, by extant species such as lion ( Panthera leo ), spotted hyaena ( Crocuta crocuta ) and the wolf ( Canis lupus ), although claims for a last‐glaciation appearance – or reappearance – of Homotherium require assessment. During MIS 5a this guild seems to have been temporarily replaced by a more restricted one of wolf in conjunction with a very large brown bear ( Ursus arctos ), together with a reduced prey fauna of bison and reindeer. Final extinction of Crocuta and lion in these islands took place towards the end of MIS 3, arguably prior to the Last Glacial Maximum. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.