Evolution of the lion
Evolution
red Panthera spelaea
blue P. atrox
green P. leo
Maximal range of the modern lion
and its prehistoric relatives
in the late Pleistocene
Phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from all Felidae species indicate that their evolutionary radiation began in Asia in the Miocene around 14.45 to 8.38 million years ago to 16.76 to 6.46 million years ago. The Panthera lineage is estimated to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the Felidae around 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago to 11.75 to 0.97 million years ago.[9][35][36] The geographic origin of the Panthera is most likely northern Central Asia.[37] Results of analyses differ in the phylogenetic relationship of the lion; it was thought to form a sister group with the jaguar (P. onca) that diverged 3.46 to 1.22 million years ago,[9] but also with the leopard (P. pardus) that diverged 3.1 to 1.95 million years ago[11][12] to 4.32 to 0.02 million years ago. Hybridisation between lion and snow leopard (P. uncia) ancestors possibly continued until about 2.1 million years ago.[36] The lion-leopard clade was distributed in the Asian and African Palearctic since at least the early Pliocene.[37] The earliest fossils recognisable as lions were found at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and are estimated to be up to 2 million years old.[35]
Estimates for the divergence time of the modern and cave lion lineages range from 529,000 to 392,000 years ago based on mutation rate per generation time of the modern lion. There is no evidence for gene flow between the two lineages, indicating that they did not share the same geographic area.[21] The Eurasian and American cave lions became extinct at the end of the last glacial period without mitochondrial descendants on other continents.[29][38][39] The modern lion was probably widely distributed in Africa during the Middle Pleistocene and started to diverge in sub-Saharan Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Lion populations in East and Southern Africa became separated from populations in West and North Africa when the equatorial rainforest expanded 183,500 to 81,800 years ago.[40] They shared a common ancestor probably between 98,000 and 52,000 years ago.[21] Due to the expansion of the Sahara between 83,100 and 26,600 years ago, lion populations in West and North Africa became separated. As the rainforest decreased and thus gave rise to more open habitats, lions moved from West to Central Africa. Lions from North Africa dispersed to southern Europe and Asia between 38,800 and 8,300 years ago.[40]
Extinction of lions in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East interrupted gene flow between lion populations in Asia and Africa. Genetic evidence revealed numerous mutations in lion samples from East and Southern Africa, which indicates that this group has a longer evolutionary history than genetically less diverse lion samples from Asia and West and Central Africa.[41] A whole genome-wide sequence of lion samples showed that samples from West Africa shared alleles with samples from Southern Africa, and samples from Central Africa shared alleles with samples from Asia. This phenomenon indicates that Central Africa was a melting pot of lion populations after they had become isolated, possibly migrating through corridors in the Nile Basin during the early Holocene.[21]
