Phylogeny

Diagram of the skeleton of a cave lion
Phylogeny is the study of the emergence and formation of a species with fossils. The oldest fossil of a lion was discovered at Laetoli in Tanzania, according to dating, he would probably 3.5 Ma

Panthera leo is identified for the first time in Europe, on the Italian site of Isernia, the fossil of a primitive cave lion (Panthera leo fossilis) older than 700,000 years. A lower jaw of a lion of Olduvai Gorge in Kenya, older than 1.75 Ma, shows striking similarities with the primitive cave lion. These are considered the largest in Europe and lions hunted during interglacial Cromerian, there are over 500 000 years, near Wiesbaden in Hesse and near Heidelberg in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Some specimens were nearly as long as the greatest lions of Earth history, the American lion (Panthera leo atrox) of California reached a record length: up to 3.60 meters long with the tail (overall length of tail, about 2.40 meters).

Most discoveries of lions in Europe are cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea) emerged during the glacial period Mindel, they represent an evolution of primitive cave lions. Although it is specifically related with any of the subspecies present, the DNA studies have confirmed that the cave lion was a lion authentique. Another subspecies lived, for its part, North East Asia, in Beringia (at the current Bering Strait), called Lion of eastern Siberia and Beringia (Panthera leo vereshchagini). In Central Europe, Asia and North America, the lions were, until the end of the Pleistocene, a common species of local wildlife, but disappeared at the end of the last glaciation.