Ursus etruscus Temporal range: Pliocene–Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossils
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Genus:	Ursus
Species:	†U. etruscus
Binomial name
†Ursus etruscus Cuvier, 1823

Ursus etruscus (the Etruscan bear) is an extinct species of bear, endemic to Europe, Asia and North Africa during the Pliocene through Pleistocene, living from ~5.3 million to 100,000 years ago.

Taxonomy

Ursus etruscus appears to have evolved from Ursus minimus and gave rise to the modern brown bear, Ursus arctos, and the extinct cave bear, Ursus spelaeus.^[1] The range of Ursus etruscus was mostly limited to continental Europe, with specimens also recovered in the Great Steppe region of Eurasia. Fossil evidence for Ursus etruscus was recovered in Palestine, Greece,^[2] Croatia, and Tuscany, Italy.

Some scientists have proposed that the early, small variety of U. etruscus of the middle Villafranchian era survives in the form of the modern Asian black bear.^[3]

Morphology

Not unlike the brown bears of Europe in size, it had a full complement of premolars, a trait carried from the genus Ursavus.

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.^[4]
• Strmica, Croatia ~1.8–0.1 Ma.^[5]