Pantherinae
Pantherinae is a subfamily within the family Felidae, which was named and first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917. The Pantherinae and the Felinae diverged from a common ancestor between 10.8 and 11.5 million years ago.
Characteristics
The members of the Pantherinae have an imperfectly ossified suspensorium of the hyoid apparatus. It is connected to the base of the base skull by an elastic tendon, which provides mobility to the larynx.They have a single rounded vocal fold with a thick mucosal lining, a large vocalis muscle and a large cricothyroid muscle with long and narrow membranes. The vocal fold is longer than. This structure of the larynx enables them to roar.
Their rhinarium is flat and, at most, only barely reaches the dorsal side of the nose. The area between the nostrils is narrow and not extended sidewards as in the Felinae.
Evolution
The divergence of Pantherinae from Felinae has been estimated to have occurred between six and ten million years ago. DNA analysis suggests that the snow leopard Uncia uncia is basal to the entire Pantherinae and should be renamed Panthera uncia. There is also evidence of distinct markers for the mitochondrial genome for Felidae.Results of a DNA-based study indicate that the tiger branched off first, followed by the jaguar, the lion, then the leopard and snow leopard. The oldest known skull, dated to 2.16 to 2.55 mya, belongs to the Longdan tiger, which is seen as a sister species to the modern tiger.
Felis pamiri, formerly referred to as Metailurus, is now considered a probable relative of extant Pantherinae.
Classification
Pocock originally defined the Pantherinae as comprising the genera Panthera and Uncia.Living genera
The following table shows the extant taxa within the Pantherinae, grouped according to the traditional phenotypical classification.| Genus | Species | IUCN Red List status and distribution |
| Panthera Oken, 1816 | Tiger | Endangered species| |
| Panthera Oken, 1816 | Lion | Vulnerable species| |
| Panthera Oken, 1816 | Jaguar | Near-threatened species| |
| Panthera Oken, 1816 | Leopard | |
| Panthera Oken, 1816 | Snow leopard | |
| Neofelis Gray, 1867 | Clouded leopard | |
| Neofelis Gray, 1867 | Sunda clouded leopard |
Fossil taxa
- †Panthera gombaszoegensis
- †Panthera shawi
- †Panthera spelaea
- †Panthera atrox
- †Panthera palaeosinensis
- †Panthera zdanskyi
- †Panthera blytheae
- †Panthera youngi