Ursus etruscus

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Pleistocene}}

| image = Ursusetrusc.JPG

| image_caption = Fossils

| extinct = yes

| genus = Ursus

| species = etruscus

| authority = Cuvier, 1823

}}

Ursus etruscus, the Etruscan bear, is an extinct bear species that was native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa during the Early Pleistocene, living from approximately 2.2 million to around 1.4–1.2 million years ago.{{Cite journal |last1=Gimranov |first1=Dmitry |last2=Lavrov |first2=Alexander |last3=Prat-Vericat |first3=Maria |last4=Madurell-Malapeira |first4=Joan |last5=Lopatin |first5=Alexey V. |date=2023-06-03 |title=Ursus etruscus from the late Early Pleistocene of the Taurida сave (Crimean Peninsula) |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2022.2067993 |journal=Historical Biology |language=en |volume=35 |issue=6 |pages=843–856 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2022.2067993 |bibcode=2023HBio...35..843G |issn=0891-2963}}

File:Ursus etruscus skull.JPG

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).{{cite journal |last=de Torres Pérez-Hidalgo |first=Trinidad José |year=1992 |title=The European descendants of Ursus etruscus {{small|C. Cuvier}} (Mammalia, Carnivora, Ursidae) |journal=Boletín del Instituto Geológico y minero de España |volume=103 |issue=4 |pages=632–642 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45940955}}

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,{{Cite journal |last1=Koufos |first1=George D. |last2=Konidaris |first2=George E. |last3=Harvati |first3=Katerina |date=20 December 2018 |title=Revisiting Ursus etruscus (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Early Pleistocene of Greece with description of new material |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618217306985 |journal=Quaternary International |series=The Gates of Europe |volume=497 |pages=222–239 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.043 |bibcode=2018QuInt.497..222K |issn=1040-6182 |access-date=18 January 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}} Croatia, and Tuscany, Italy.{{cite journal |last1=Petrucci |first1=Mauro |last2=Sardella |first2=Raffaele |date=January 2009 |title=Ursus etruscus Cuvier, 1823 from the Early Pleistocene of Monte Argentario (Southern Tuscany, Central Italy) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289735304 |journal=Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=89–94 |access-date=14 February 2025 |via=ResearchGate}}

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.{{cite conference |last=Herrero |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Herrero |title=Aspects of evolution and adaptation in American black bears (Ursus americanus {{small|Pallas}}) and brown and grizzly bears (U. arctos {{small|Linné}}) of North America |book-title=Bears: Their Biology and Management |volume=2 |pages=221–231 |conference=Second International Conference on Bear Research and Management |place=Calgary, Alberta, Canada |date=6-9 November 1970 |series=IUCN Publications New Series no. 23 |publication-date=1972 |publisher=International Association for Bear Research and Management |jstor=3872586 |doi=10.2307/3872586 |url=http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/URSUS/Vol_2/Herrero.pdf |access-date=12 December 2020}}

Morphology

Similar in size to the brown bears of Europe, it had a full complement of premolars, a trait inherited from the genus Ursavus.

Ecology

Like modern brown bears, Ursus etruscus was likely omnivorous,{{Cite journal |last1=Mateos |first1=Ana |last2=Hölzchen |first2=Ericson |last3=Rodríguez |first3=Jesús |date=January 2024 |title=Sabretooths, giant hyenas, and hominins: Shifts in the niche of Early Pleistocene scavengers in Iberia at the Epivillafranchian-Galerian transition |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018223005448 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |language=en |volume=634 |pages=111926 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111926|bibcode=2024PPP...63411926M |url-access=subscription }} with some populations possibly relying heavily on fish.{{Cite journal |last1=Medin |first1=Tsegai |last2=Martínez-Navarro |first2=Bienvenido |last3=Rivals |first3=Florent |last4=Madurell-Malapeira |first4=Joan |last5=Ros-Montoya |first5=Sergio |last6=Espigares |first6=María-Patrocinio |last7=Figueirido |first7=Borja |last8=Rook |first8=Lorenzo |last9=Palmqvist |first9=Paul |date=February 2017 |title=Late Villafranchian Ursus etruscus and other large carnivorans from the Orce sites (Guadix-Baza basin, Andalusia, southern Spain): Taxonomy, biochronology, paleobiology, and ecogeographical context |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618215010253 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=431 |pages=20–41 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.053|bibcode=2017QuInt.431...20M |url-access=subscription }}

Fossil distribution

Sites and specimen ages:

Vassiloudi, Macedonia Greece ~5.3–1.8 Ma.
Obigarm, Tajikistan ~5.3–1.8 Ma.
Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco ~3.6–1.8 Ma.
Pardines, Auvergne, France ~2.5–1.8 Ma.
Dmanisi, Georgia ~1.8–0.8 Ma.
Mestas de Con, Cangas de Onis, Asturias, Spain ~1.8–0.1 Ma.

{{cite web

|title=Mestas de Con

|series=Cangas de Onis collection

|id=collection list 49211

|website=Paleobiology Database

|url=http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=basicCollectionSearch&collection_list=49211

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016051613/http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=basicCollectionSearch&collection_list=49211

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=16 October 2012

}}

Strmica, Croatia ~1.8–0.1 Ma.

{{cite web

|title=Tiglian fauna

|series=Strmica collection

|id=collection list 40502

|website=Paleobiology Database

|url=http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=basicCollectionSearch&collection_list=40502

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016051624/http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=basicCollectionSearch&collection_list=40502