Ursus etruscus

Ursus etruscus
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene
Fossils
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species:
†U. etruscus
Binomial name
†Ursus etruscus
Cuvier, 1823

Ursus etruscus, the Etruscan bear, is an extinct bear species that was native to Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene, living from approximately 2.2 million to around 1.4–1.2 million years ago. It is widely thought to be the ancestor of the living brown bear (Ursus arctos) and the extinct cave bears.

Skull

Taxonomy

The Etruscan bear appears to have originated from Ursus minimus and gave rise to the modern brown bear (Ursus arctos) and the extinct cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). The range of Etruscan bears was mostly limited to continental Europe, with specimens also recovered in the Great Steppe region of Eurasia. Fossil evidence for the Etruscan bear has been recovered in Palestine, Greece, Montenegro, Croatia, Tuscany, Italy, and Spain.

Some scientists have proposed that the early, smaller variety of U. etruscus from the middle Villafranchian era is the ancestor of the modern Asian black bear.

Description

Ursus etruscus was similar in size to a living brown bear. Ursus etruscus differs from other species of Ursus primarily in dental characters. Unlike cave bears, U. etruscus always has a complete set of three frontmost lower premolars. The lower fourth premolar of U. etruscus is characteristically "oval shape in occlusal [top-down] view, with no additional cusps, except for a tiny cusp on the posterior cristid of the protoconid" the lower first molar is typified by "metaconid (unicuspid) and entoconid (unicuspid) ... additional cusps and cristids are absent between the metaconid and entoconid".

Ecology

Like modern brown bears, Ursus etruscus was likely omnivorous, with some populations possibly relying heavily on fish.

Fossil distribution

Sites and specimen ages:

Morphologically similar specimens described from Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco were referred to as U. cf. etruscus.

References

  1. 1 2 Gimranov, Dmitry; Lavrov, Alexander; Prat-Vericat, Maria; Madurell-Malapeira, Joan; Lopatin, Alexey V. (3 June 2023). "Ursus etruscus from the late Early Pleistocene of the Taurida сave (Crimean Peninsula)". Historical Biology. 35 (6): 843–856. Bibcode:2023HBio...35..843G. doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2067993. ISSN 0891-2963.
  2. 1 2 Galdies, Johann (2022). "The bears of the European steppe: a review". Quaternaire. Revue de l'Association française pour l'étude du Quaternaire (in French). 33 (1): 47–62. doi:10.4000/quaternaire.16605. ISSN 1142-2904.
  3. ↑ de Torres Pérez-Hidalgo, Trinidad José (1992). "The European descendants of Ursus etruscus C. Cuvier (Mammalia, Carnivora, Ursidae)". Boletín del Instituto Geológico y minero de España. 103 (4): 632–642.
  4. 1 2 Koufos, George D.; Konidaris, George E.; Harvati, Katerina (20 December 2018). "Revisiting Ursus etruscus (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Early Pleistocene of Greece with description of new material". Quaternary International. The Gates of Europe. 497: 222–239. Bibcode:2018QuInt.497..222K. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.043. ISSN 1040-6182. Retrieved 18 January 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  5. ↑ Vislobokova, I. A.; Agadjanian, A. K. (24 November 2015). "New data on large mammals of the Pleistocene Trlica fauna, Montenegro, the Central Balkans". Paleontological Journal. 49 (6): 651–667. Bibcode:2015PalJ...49..651V. doi:10.1134/S0031030115060143. ISSN 0031-0301. Retrieved 10 September 2025 – via Springer Nature Link.
  6. 1 2 "Tiglian fauna". Paleobiology Database. Strmica collection. collection list 40502. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. sediments containing Early Pleistocene or Tiglian fauna.
  7. ↑ Petrucci, Mauro; Sardella, Raffaele (January 2009). "Ursus etruscus Cuvier, 1823 from the Early Pleistocene of Monte Argentario (Southern Tuscany, Central Italy)". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 48 (2): 89–94. Retrieved 14 February 2025 – via ResearchGate.
  8. 1 2 Medin, Tsegai; Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido; Rivals, Florent; Madurell-Malapeira, Joan; Ros-Montoya, Sergio; Espigares, María-Patrocinio; Figueirido, Borja; Rook, Lorenzo; Palmqvist, Paul (February 2017). "Late Villafranchian Ursus etruscus and other large carnivorans from the Orce sites (Guadix-Baza basin, Andalusia, southern Spain): Taxonomy, biochronology, paleobiology, and ecogeographical context". Quaternary International. 431: 20–41. Bibcode:2017QuInt.431...20M. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.053.
  9. ↑ Herrero, Stephen (6–9 November 1970). "Aspects of evolution and adaptation in American black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas) and brown and grizzly bears (U. arctos Linné) of North America" (PDF). Bears: Their Biology and Management. Second International Conference on Bear Research and Management. IUCN Publications New Series no. 23. Vol. 2. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: International Association for Bear Research and Management (published 1972). pp. 221–231. doi:10.2307/3872586. JSTOR 3872586. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  10. ↑ Mateos, Ana; Hölzchen, Ericson; Rodríguez, Jesús (January 2024). "Sabretooths, giant hyenas, and hominins: Shifts in the niche of Early Pleistocene scavengers in Iberia at the Epivillafranchian-Galerian transition". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 634 111926. Bibcode:2024PPP...63411926M. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111926.
  11. ↑ "Mestas de Con". Paleobiology Database. Cangas de Onis collection. collection list 49211. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012.
  12. ↑ Jiangzuo, Qigao; Liu, Jinyi; Wang, Yuan; Jin, Changzhu; Liu, Sizhao; Liu, Jinyuan; Chen, Jin (2017). "New Materials of Ursus etruscus from Jinyuan cave of Luotuo hill, Dalian and a Brief Review of Ursus cf. etruscus in China". Quaternary Sciences. 37 (4): 828–837. doi:10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2017.04.16.
  13. ↑ Geraads, D. (1997). "Carnivores du Pliocène terminalde Ahl al Oughlam (Casablanca, Maroc)" (PDF). Geobios. 30 (1): 127–164. Bibcode:1997Geobi..30..127G. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(97)80263-X.

Further reading