Ursus ingressus/kanivetz

[Gorilla king]

Ursus ingressus (the Gamssulzen Cave bear) is an extinct species of the family Ursidae that lived in Central Europe during the Late Pleistocene. It is named after the Gamssulzen Cave in Austria, where the holotype of this species was found.[2]


Description

Ursus ingressus was a large cave bear with massive, bulky limbs. It was larger than Ursus spelaeus, which has been estimated to weigh an average of 350 to 600 kg (770 to 1,320 lb) (male specimen).[2][3]

Behaviour

Some studies have suggested the Gamssulzen Cave bear to have been herbivorous, living of vegetation with little contribution of grass.[4] Other studies proposed Ursus ingressus to have been an omnivore, with participation of terrestrial and more likely aquatic animal protein, that exceeds the participation of animal protein in the diet of the modern brown bear (Ursus arctos).[5] However it has also been suggested, that the feeding habits of cave bears can vary heavily depending on the environment.[6]

Skulls with bite damage from Zoolithen Cave in Germany suggest that Ursus ingressus came into conflicts with other big carnivores of the Late Pleistocene of Europe like the cave lion (Panthera leo spelaea) or the cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea).[7]

Distribution and habitat

It has been suggested that the Gamssulzen Cave bear dominated Ursus spelaeus in Central and Eastern Europe, while being out-competed by this species in Western Europe. Around 50,000 years ago, the Gamssulzen Cave bear migrated into the Alps and replaced two former populations of Ursue spelaeus: Ursus spelaeus eremus and Ursus spelaeus ladinicus. Ursus ingressus has been found as far east as the Ural Mountains in Russia and as far west as the Swabian Jura in Germany.[6][8]

It has mostly been found in medium and high elevated regions and probably was adapted to continental environments with cold and arid climate.[9]

Evolution and extinction

Ursus ingressus and Ursus spelaeus evolved from Ursus deningeri and probably diverged between 173,000 and 414,000, or possibly as much as 600,000 years ago.[6][2] Some studies still question whether U. ingressus and U. spelaeus are separate species, instead treating them as subspecies of a single species.[9]

The Gamssulzen Cave bear survived U. spelaeus for about 1000 to 2000 years, locally replacing this species, but also became extinct about 30,000 years ago, just prior to the Last Glacial Maximum. The reasons for their extinction are still being discussed, with climate change and human hunting suggested as possible reasons.[8][10]



en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursus_ingressus

[Gorilla king]

Cave bears from Poland


ABSTRACT

The vast majority of fossil remains in Late Pleistocene deposits from Niedźwiedzia Cave in Kletno, Sudetes, Poland, belong to the cave bear. Phylogenetic analyses based on a fragment of the mitochondrial D-loop region extracted from two cave bear samples unambiguously showed their close relationship with the Ursus ingressus haplogroup. This taxonomic affiliation of the cave bear remains from Niedźwiedzia Cave was further confirmed by biometrical analyses of molar teeth and skulls. Our results represent the first record of U. ingressus north of the Carpathian Arch, while radiocarbon dating (> 49,000 yr BP) of the samples indicates that they represent some of the oldest specimens of this cave bear taxon known so far. Multi-method phylogenetic analyses including numerous publicly available cave bear sequences allowed analysing the relationships among these samples in details, including the significance of particular clades, and discussing some aspects of cave bear phylogeography. The sequences of U. ingressus from Poland are most closely related to specimens from the Ural Mountains and next to Slovenia, which may indicate migrations between Central and Eastern European populations. The internal placement of Ural samples among European specimens in phylogenetic trees and the older age of Polish samples than those from Urals suggest that the eastward expansion of U. ingressus may have started from Central Europe.

INTRODUCTION

Out of the big mammal species that went extinct during the Pleistocene, the cave bear is probably the most thoroughly genetically studied one. Its fossil material is quite abundant in cave sites across Europe and Asia, and in many cases preserved sufficiently well to allow ancient DNA (aDNA) extraction and analysis (e.g., Hänni et al., 1994; Loreille et al., 2001; Hofreiter et al., 2002, 2004a, 2004b, 2007; Orlando et al., 2002; Noonan et al., 2005; Valdiosera et al., 2006; Bon et al., 2008; Krause et al., 2008; Knapp et al., 2009; Stiller et al., 2010). Cave bears diverged from their sister lineage leading to the brown bear (Ursus arctos), approximately 1.2-1.7 million years ago according to palaeontological (Kurtén, 1968, 1976; Rustioni and Mazza, 1992; Rabeder and Withalm, 2006) and molecular data (Loreille et al., 2001; Bon et al., 2008), although some calculations indicate an earlier split about 2.8 million years ago (Krause et al., 2008). It is usually assumed that Late Pleistocene cave bears (Ursus ex gr. spelaeus) evolved gradually from the Middle Pleistocene cave bears from the deningeri-group still before the Last Interglacial (Mazza and Rustioni, 1994; Rabeder et al., 2000, 2010).

The results of both morphological and genetic studies have shown that during the Late Pleistocene, Europe was inhabited by two main cave bear haplogroups described as separate species, U. spelaeus and U. ingressus (Rabeder, 1995; Hofreiter et al., 2004b; Rabeder and Hofreiter, 2004; Rabeder et al., 2004a, 2004b). They separated between 173,000-414,000 yr BP according to molecular dating (Knapp et al., 2009). Additionally, among U. spelaeus several high-alpine forms with reduced body size, named U. s. eremus and U. s. ladinicus, were discerned whereas the 'classic' Western Europe cave bear was called U. s. spelaeus (Rabeder et al., 2000, 2004a, 2004b, 2008; Hofreiter et al., 2004b; Rabeder and Hofreiter, 2004). For a recent review of most described cave bear taxa and a somewhat different conception of their classification based on craniometrical features see Baryshnikov and Puzachenko (2011). According to this study, the morphological differences between U. spelaeus and U. ingressus do not exceed subspecies level and are too small to consider them as different species.

A large number of radiocarbon dates revealed that cave bears became extinct just before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), ca. 24,000 yr BP (27,800 cal. yr BP; Pacher and Stuart, 2009). Comparison of effective female population sizes of cave bears and their sister species, the brown bear, showed that the genetic decline of cave bears preceded their extinction by about 25,000 years, while brown bear population size remained constant (Stiller et al., 2010). The reason(s) for the extinction of cave bears are still unclear but it seems that not only one, but probably several causes played a role in its disappearance, possibly including climatic changes, human impact (Stiller et al., 2010), and predator stress caused by cave lion and cave hyena (Diedrich, 2010).

The phylogeographic picture of cave bears in Eurasia does not offer clear indications of the migration routes of cave bears during the Pleistocene glacials and interglacials. It has been suggested that U. ingressus dominated mainly in Eastern and Central Europe while U. spelaeus did so in Western Europe (Hofreiter et al., 2004a; Knapp et al., 2009). In addition to this picture in Europe, remains of both species were also discovered in Asia (Knapp et al., 2009). Whereas U. spelaeus inhabited mainly low and medium elevation areas, U. ingressus has mostly been found in medium and high elevated regions (Baryshnikov and Puzachenko, 2011). Recent isotopic analyses showed also some dietary differentiation between these cave bear haplogroups (Bocherens et al., 2011; Dotsika et al., 2011). Ursus ingressus was likely better adapted to continental environments and, thus, might have outperformed U. spelaeus during cold and arid climate conditions (Baryshnikov and Puzachenko, 2011). In fact, it was shown that U. ingressus immigrated into the Alps around 50,000 years ago where it replaced two former populations of U. s. eremus and U. s. ladinicus (Rabeder and Hofreiter, 2004; Rabeder et al., 2008). Similarly, the stratigraphically younger U. ingressus replaced quite suddenly the older U. s. spelaeus around 28,000 yr BP (32,000 cal. BP) in three geographically close caves in the Swabian Jura of Germany (Münzel et al., 2011). However, despite the numerous samples that have been genetically analysed so far, there are a number of regions from which no genetic data have been obtained so far and which could contribute to a better understanding of the complex picture of recent cave bear evolution.

Although fossil remains of cave bears are quite common in Poland, i.e., north of the Carpathian and Sudetes Mountain ridges, no DNA analyses were so far performed on cave bear remains from this region of Europe. Such analyses would be an important step towards reconstructing a more complete picture of phylogeographic structure and genetic variation of cave bears sensu lato. In this paper we present the results of the analysis of cave bear specimens discovered in Niedźwiedzia Cave (Wiszniowska, 1976; Wiszniowska et al., 1996; Bieroński et al., 2009) located in the eastern Sudetes Mountains. Phylogenetic analyses were performed with a variety of methods to ensure that the obtained tree topology was not dependent on a specific method.


Full report here:


palaeo-electronica.org/content/2012-issue-2-articles/263-cave-bears-from-poland

[Gorilla king]

Behavioural ecology of Late Pleistocene bears (Ursus spelaeus, Ursus ingressus): Insight from stable isotopes (C, N, O) and tooth microwear


Abstract

Several types of bears lived in Europe during the Late Pleistocene. Some of them, such as cave bears (Ursus s. spelaeus and Ursus ingressus), did not survive after about 25,000 years ago, while others are still extant, such as brown bear (Ursus arctos). Our article aims at a better understanding of the palaeoecology of these large “carnivores” and focuses on two regions, the Ach valley in the Swabian Jura (SW-Germany) with Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels, and the Totes Gebirge (Austria) with Ramesch and Gamssulzen caves. Both regions revealed two genetically distinct cave bear lineages, and previous studies suggest behavioural differences for the respective bears in these two regions.

In the Ach valley, irrespective of the cave site, U. s. spelaeus was replaced by U. ingressus around 28 ka uncal BP with limited chronological overlap without recognizable dietary changes as documented by the isotopic composition (13C, 15N) of the bones. Furthermore, the present study shows that the dental microwear pattern was similar for all bears in both caves, however with a larger variability in Geißenklösterle than in Hohle Fels.

In contrast, the two Austrian caves, Gamssulzen (U. ingressus) and Ramesch (Ursus s. eremus), show considerable differences in both palaeodietary indicators, i.e., stable isotopes, and dental microwear, over at least 15,000 years. The oxygen and carbon analysis of the tooth enamel combined with the dental microwear of the same molars provide an extremely diversified picture of the feeding behaviour of these fossil bears. The already known differences between these two study areas are confirmed and refined using the new approaches. Moreover, the differences between the two cave bear lineages in the Totes Gebirge became even larger. Some niche partitioning between both types of cave bears was supported by the present study but it does not seem to be triggered by climate. This multi-disciplinary approach gives new insights into the palaeobiology of extinct bears.


www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618213007921

[Gorilla king]

SHOULD BE RENAME URSUS INGRESSUS?

It turns out, the bear was 20,930 ± 140 years old, far younger than the most recent cave bears known hitherto, making it highly likely that this was merely a brown bear, Ursus arctos.
You may think that since all we had was a phalanx, and a reasonably young one at that, we could assume it was a brown bear, but no. DNA extraction and analysis against 141 cave bear sequences and 490 brown bear ones confirmed the specimen to be a late-surviving Ursus ingressus, or Gamssulzen cave bear. This really pushes forward the extinction date for this species.
This is really cool and all, but there was this thing that the paper noted.

In 1973, N.K Vereshchagin described a fossil bear from Medvezhiya Cave in the Russian Urals, and named it Ursus kanivetz. I don't know whether or not the name was merely forgotten or scrapped in favor of a unification with U. spelaeus, but an earlier cited 2011 study revealed that, on the basis of DNA, these bears were part of the cave bear group now known as U. ingressus. But there's a catch.

Since Vereshchagin named the Medvezhiya cave bear first in 1973, long before Rabeder and Hofreiter et al. named U.ingressus back in 2004, it falls to reason that we should scrap U. ingressus as a junior synonym of U. kanivetz.

Neither paper fully did this, though the 2011 one named a subspecies of U. ingressus as U. i. kanivetz in the Ural region.
If we are to do this, then wouldn't it also fall to reason to change the common name? i.c:
Gamssulzen cave bear ---> Medvezhiya cave bear
That sounds cooler, I guess, and more appropriate, too.

Please note that U. ingressus hasn't been scrapped yet, though by the rulings of taxonomy, it should be.

Also, if we're to name cave bear taxa after their type localities, then shouldn't Ursus spelaeus spelaeus, or Classical cave bear be changed to Zoolithen cave bear?
Following this rule, the Small cave bear, U. rossicus, should be the Krasnodar cave bear. "Small cave bear" doesn't really sound too original, and the description can be given to other smaller spelaeoid subspecies.

Yeah, I didn't know the type locality for this one when I first came up with the name, and it already had a wiki article with the older common name. Plus, U. s. spelaeus would be the most familiar to most people, so I decided to give that common name at first.

I think U. deningeri deserve the title Deninger's cave bear, since its species was named after someone, but what about U.d. kudarensis?

Well, according to Stiller et al. 2014 , Kudaro cave bears are genetically distinct enough from the older U. deningeri that they should be considered a species in their own right, Ursus kudarensis.




redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_162561677018413&key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&libId=kqsq6zc70102ylrr000MLhri2mb7t&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fdomainofthebears.proboards.com%2Fthread%2F893%2Fursus-kanivetz-ingressus&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deviantart.com%2Fanonymousllama428%2Fjournal%2FShould-we-rename-Ursus-ingressus-647149432&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fdomainofthebears.proboards.com%2Fboard%2F43%2Fcave-bears&title=Ursus%20Kanivetz%20%2F%20Ursus%20Ingressus%20%7C%20Domain%20Of%20The%20Bears&txt=www.deviantart.com%2Fanonymousllama428%2Fjournal%2FShould-we-rename-Ursus-ingressus-647149432

[Gorilla king]

[Gorilla king]

URSUS ARCTOS-URSUS INGRESSUS SKULLS:

[Gorilla king]

The bear skull with the greatest length in history belongs to the cave bear (Ursus Ingressus/Ursus Kanivetz) with 57.14 cm (571.4 mm)

Score: 32.55 inches.




As we can see though, they gave the "mastoid width" measurement, not the usual "zygomatic width" measurement. The "zygomatic width" would be the largest red line, so if we take this into consideration, the total score should be much more than 32.55 inches. So this should make it the largest cave bear skull on record.

[Gorilla king]

Up to date, the absolute largest skull belongs to Ingressus. But here are some other measurements of cave bears, (Hard to tell which species they are talking about as both species lived in Hermann's cave, and they name "Ursus spelaeus Ingressus", i am guessing its Ingressus though).

This is from the book "Hermann's cave (Germany)-a late Pleistocene cave bear den"

The large skulls of adults may measure in average length around 470-520 mm.

The largest skull ever measured from a German cave is a male skull from Hermann's cave that reach giant size of 540 mm length.

In some cases it is and will become difficult to distinguish largest U. Spelaeus male bones from small U. Ingressus females.






books.google.com/books?id=5AQ5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&dq=ursus+spelaeus+skull+measurements&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwja5fOIhPbtAhVH0FkKHSmSDMgQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Gorilla king]

FROM THE SAME BOOK ABOVE:


COMPARISON OF THE POSTCRANIAL LONGBONE CAVE BEAR SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES PROPORTIONS BETWEEN THE LARGEST U. INGRESSUS, MEDIUM LARGE U.SPELAEUS, AND SMALL, U.EREMUS.




books.google.com/books?id=5AQ5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&dq=ursus+spelaeus+skull+measurements&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwja5fOIhPbtAhVH0FkKHSmSDMgQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

[nocap]

[Gorilla king]

nocap

Very good bro. Is that the max dimensions?

[nocap]

Oct 20, 2021 13:52:10 GMT -5 Gorilla king said:

nocap

Very good bro. Is that the max dimensions?

Yes.

[nocap]

[oldindigosilverback]

Reply 12. This bear is taller and bulkier than most any extant bear.

[Gorilla king]

nocap

Reply #12, very nice work there bro.

[arctozilla]

This bear is interesting. Some say this bear and the cave bear are in truth the same species but is it true?

[Gorilla king]

Dec 15, 2021 7:32:45 GMT -5 arctozilla said:

This bear is interesting. Some say this bear and the cave bear are in truth the same species but is it true?

This is also a cave bear. Some biologists think they should be the same species, just different subspecies, but officially they are still different species as far as i know.

[Gorilla king]

A New Mass Burial of Cave Bears (Carnivora, Ursidae, Ursus kanivetz, Vereshchagin, 1973) from the Middle Urals


Abstract

Remains of a cave bear were studied from a new locality in the Prokoshev Cave in the Middle Urals (58°13´ N, 58°12´ E). Bones from all regions of the skeleton are present, bones are intact and without traces of human or animal activity. They all belong to the cave bear (Ursus kanivetz Vereshchagin, 1973). An AMS radiocarbon date of 53 375 ± 765 BP, IGANAMS-8632, was obtained from an adult mandible. The bones belonged to at least 18 individuals, including 4 individuals aged about one year, 1 aged about two years, 1 aged about three years, and 12 individuals over four years of age. Three skulls belonged to males and seven skulls belonged to females. The analysis has shown that the taphonomic type of this locality is a "mass burial." This is the first "mass burial" of the cave bear in the Urals, found in situ, untouched by humans.


www.researchgate.net/publication/352760845_A_New_Mass_Burial_of_Cave_Bears_Carnivora_Ursidae_Ursus_kanivetz_Vereshchagin_1973_from_the_Middle_Urals