Ursus deningeri

Ursus deningeri (Deninger's bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Eurasia during the Pleistocene for approximately 1.7 million years, from 1.8 to 0.1 million years ago.

Ursus deningeri Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Late Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Skull from Atapuerca
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Genus:	Ursus
Species:	U. deningeri
Binomial name
Ursus deningeri von Reichenau, 1904 [1][2]

The range of this bear has been found to encompass both Europe and Asia, demonstrating the ability of the species to adapt to many Pleistocene environments.

U. deningeri is a descendant of U. savini and an ancestor of U. spelaeus.

Morphology

Skull of Ursus deningeri

Ursus deningeri has a combination of primitive and derived characters that distinguishes it from all other Pleistocene bears. Its mandible is slender like that of living brown bears and Ursus etruscus. It also has derived characters of cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) and is considered to be the descendant of Ursus savini and very close to the common ancestor of brown bears.[3]

Fossil distribution

Sites and specimen ages:

• Nalaikha, Mongolia: ~1.8 Mya to 800,000 years ago
• West Runton Freshwater Bed, Cromer Forest Bed Formation, Norfolk, England: ~800,000–100,000 years ago
• Cueva del Agua, Granada, Spain: ~800,000–100,000 years ago
• Venosa bed excavations 1974–1976, Basilicata, Italy: ~800,000–100,000 years ago
• Emirkaya-2, Central Anatolia, Turkey: ~800,000–100,000 years ago
• Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain: >300,000 years ago[4]
• Darband Cave, Alborz, Caspian, Iran: ~300,000–200,000 years ago
• Stránská skála (Ursus Cave), Brno, Moravia, Czech Republic: excavations 1943–1944 ~790,000–600,000 years ago[5][6]

Genetics

In 2013, a German team reconstructed the mitochondrial genome of an Ursus deningeri more than 300,000 years old, proving that authentic ancient DNA can be preserved for hundreds of thousand years outside of permafrost.[7]

References

1. Ursus deningeri in Inventaire National du Patrimoine Naturel (in French)
2. García, N., Santos, E., Arsuaga, J. L., & Carretero, J. M. (2007). Endocranial morphology of the Ursus deningeri von Reichenau 1904 from the Sima de los huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca) middle Pleistocene site. Journal of vertebrate paleontology, 27(4), 1007–1017.
3. García, N., & Arsuaga, J. L. (2001). Les carnivores (Mammalia) des sites du Pléistocène ancien et moyen d'Atapuerca (Espagne). L'anthropologie, 105(1), 83–93.
4. Dabney, J., Knapp, M., Glocke, I., Gansauge, M. T., Weihmann, A., Nickel, B., Valdiosera, C., García, N. Svante, P., Arsuaga J., & Meyer, M. (2013). .Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Middle Pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort DNA fragments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(39), 15758-15763.
5. Mlikovsky, J. (1964). Early Pleistocene birds of Stránská Skála Hill, Czech Republic: 1. Musil’s Talus Cone. Stránská Skála Hill. Excavation of open-air sediments, 1972, 111–126.
6. Musil, Rudolf (ed.1995): Stránská skála Hill. Excavation of open-air sediments 1964–1972. Antropos, Brno 1995, ISBN 978-3-7749-2798-8
7. Dabney & al. 2013. PNAS. "Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Middle Pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort DNA fragments" doi: 10.1073/pnas.1314445110 PNAS

• Biglari, F., V. Jahani (2011). "The Pleistocene Human Settlement in Gilan, Southwest Caspian Sea: Recent Research.". Eurasian Prehistory 8 (1–8 (1–2): 3–28.