Earliest occurrence of Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846) (Carnivora, Felidae) at the Plio/Pleistocene transition in western Europe: New evidence from the Middle Villafranchian assemblage of Montopoli, Italy = Première occurrence du Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846) (Carnivora, Felidae) à la transition Plio/Pléistocène en Europe occidentale : une nouvelle preuve de l’assemblage du Villafranchien moyen de Montopoli, Italie

The puma-like cat Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846) is reported from several Eurasian localities dated to the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene, but its Italian fossil record is really poor; in fact, the only possible occurrence comprises some fragmentary postcranial material from the Late Villafranchian locality of Pirro Nord (1.6-1.3 Ma). In the present paper, we describe an isolated left upper carnassial of a medium-sized felid belonging to the collection of fossil mammals from Montopoli (Tuscany, Italy), the type locality of the Middle Villafranchian Faunal Unit (~2.6 Ma). All the morphological and morphometric characters of the tooth are consistent with an attribution to Puma pardoides (Owen, 1846), which comes out as the second felid species from Montopoli together with Acinonyx pardinensis (Croizet et Jobert, 1828) and is, possibly with the specimens from Perrier-étouaries, the earliest occurrence in western Europe. © 2013 Académie des sciences.