Editing Tiger (section)

=== Evolution ===
{{Cladogram|align=right|caption=Phylogeny of the genus ''Panthera'' based on a 2016 [[nuclear DNA]] study<ref name=Li_al2016>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=G. |last2=Davis |first2=B. W. |last3=Eizirik |first3=E. |last4=Murphy |first4=W. J. |date=2016 |title=Phylogenomic evidence for ancient hybridization in the genomes of living cats (Felidae) |journal=Genome Research |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1101/gr.186668.114 |pmid=26518481 |pmc=4691742}}</ref>
|1={{clade
|label1=''[[Panthera]]''
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Snow leopard]] [[File:Schneeleoparden (Panthera uncia) Zoo Salzburg 2014 f white background.jpg|70px]]
|2='''Tiger''' [[File:Tigress in Bandhavgarh NP white background.jpg|70px]]
}}
|2={{clade sequential
|1=[[Jaguar]] [[File:Jaguar (Panthera onca palustris) male Three Brothers River white background.JPG|70px]]
|2=[[Leopard]] [[File:Flickr - Rainbirder - Sassy Lassy white background.jpg|70px]]
|3=[[Lion]] [[File:Panthera leo -Ngorongoro, Tanzania-8b white background.jpg|70px]]
}}
}}
}}
}}
The tiger shares the genus ''Panthera'' with the [[lion]], [[leopard]], [[jaguar]] and [[snow leopard]]. Results of genetic analyses indicate that the tiger and snow leopard are [[sister taxon|sister species]] whose [[Lineage (evolution)|lineages]] split from each other between 2.70 and 3.70 million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=B. W. |last2=Li |first2=G. |last3=Murphy |first3=W. J. |title=Supermatrix and species tree methods resolve phylogenetic relationships within the big cats, ''Panthera'' (Carnivora: Felidae) |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |year=2010 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=64–76 |pmid=20138224 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.036 |bibcode=2010MolPE..56...64D |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> The tiger's whole genome sequencing shows [[Repeated sequence (DNA)|repeated sequences]] that parallel those in other cat genomes.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The tiger genome and comparative analysis with lion and snow leopard genomes |doi=10.1038/ncomms3433 |pmid=24045858 |pmc=3778509 |journal=Nature Communications |volume=4 |page=2433 |year=2013 |last1=Cho |first1=Y. S. |last2=Hu |first2=L. |last3=Hou |first3=H. |last4=Lee |first4=H. |last5=Xu |first5=J. |last6=Kwon |first6=S. |last7=Oh |first7=S. |last8=Kim |first8=H. M. |last9=Jho |first9=S. |last10=Kim |first10=S. |last11=Shin |first11=Y. A. |last12=Kim |first12=B. C. |last13=Kim |first13=H. |last14=Kim |first14=C. U. |last15=Luo | first15=S. J. |last16=Johnson |first16=W. E. |last17=Koepfli |first17=K. P. |last18=Schmidt-Küntzel |first18=A. |last19=Turner |first19=J. A. |last20=Marker |first20=L. |last21=Harper |first21=C. |last22=Miller |first22=S. M. |last23=Jacobs |first23=W. |last24=Bertola |first24=L. D. |last25=Kim |first25=T. H. |last26=Lee |first26=S. |last27=Zhou |first27=Q. |last28=Jung |first28=H. J. |last29=Xu |first29=X. |last30=Gadhvi |first30=P. |name-list-style=amp |bibcode=2013NatCo...4.2433C |hdl=2263/32583}}</ref>

The fossil species ''[[Panthera palaeosinensis]]'' of early [[Pleistocene]] northern China was described as a possible tiger ancestor when it was discovered in 1924, but modern cladistics places it as [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] to modern ''Panthera''.<ref name=Mazák>{{cite journal |year=2011 |title=Oldest Known Pantherine Skull and Evolution of the Tiger |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=6 |issue=10 |page=e25483 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0025483 |pmid=22016768 |last1=Mazák |first1=J. H. |last2=Christiansen |first2=P. |last3=Kitchener |first3=A. C. |bibcode=2011PLoSO...625483M |pmc=3189913 |doi-access=free |name-list-style=amp}}</ref><ref name=Tseng>{{cite journal |author1=Tseng, Z. J. |author2=Wang, X. |author3=Slater, G. J. |author4=Takeuchi, G. T. |author5=Li, Q. |author6=Liu, J. |author7=Xie, G. |date=2014 |title=Himalayan fossils of the oldest known pantherine establish ancient origin of big cats |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=281 |issue=1774 |page=20132686 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2013.2686|pmid=24225466 |pmc=3843846 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> ''[[Panthera zdanskyi]]'' lived around the same time and place, and was suggested to be a sister species of the modern tiger when it was examined in 2014.<ref name=Mazák/> However, as of 2023, at least two subsequent studies considered ''P. zdanskyi'' likely to be a [[Synonym (taxonomy)|synonym]] of ''P. palaeosinensis'', noting that its proposed differences from that species fell within the range of individual variation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hemmer |first1=Helmut |title= The identity of the "lion", ''Panthera principialis'' sp. nov., from the Pliocene Tanzanian site of Laetoli and its significance for molecular dating the pantherine phylogeny, with remarks on Panthera shawi (Broom, 1948), and a revision of Puma incurva (Ewer, 1956), the Early Pleistocene Swartkrans "leopard" (Carnivora, Felidae)|url= |journal= Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments|year=2023 |volume= 103|issue= 2|pages= 465–487|doi=10.1007/s12549-022-00542-2 |bibcode=2023PdPe..103..465H |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/08912963.2022.2034808 |title=Discovery of jaguar from northeastern China middle Pleistocene reveals an intercontinental dispersal event |date=2023 |last1=Jiangzuo |first1=Q. |last2=Wang |first2=Y. |last3=Ge |first3=J. |last4=Liu |first4=S. |last5=Song |first5=Y. |last6=Jin |first6=C. |last7=Jiang |first7=H. |last8=Liu |first8=J. |journal=Historical Biology |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=293–302 |bibcode=2023HBio...35..293J |s2cid=246693903 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> The earliest appearance of the modern tiger species in the fossil record are jaw fragments from [[Lantian County|Lantion]] in China that are dated to the early Pleistocene.<ref name=Mazák/>

Middle- to late-Pleistocene tiger fossils have been found throughout China, Sumatra and Java. Prehistoric subspecies include ''[[Panthera tigris trinilensis]]'' and ''[[Panthera tigris soloensis|P. t. soloensis]]'' of Java and Sumatra and ''[[Panthera tigris acutidens|P. t. acutidens]]'' of China; late Pleistocene and early [[Holocene]] fossils of tigers have also been found in [[Bornean tiger|Borneo]] and [[Palawan]], Philippines.<ref name=Kitchener2009>Kitchener, A. & Yamaguchi, N. (2009). "What is a Tiger? Biogeography, Morphology, and Taxonomy" in {{harvnb|Tilson|Nyhus|2010|pp=53–84}}</ref> Fossil specimens of tigers have also been reported from the Middle-Late Pleistocene of Japan.<ref>Hasegawa, Y., Takakuwa, Y., Nenoki, K. & Kimura, T. [https://www.gmnh.pref.gunma.jp/wp-content/uploads/bulletin23_1.pdf Fossil tiger from limestone mine of Tsukumi City, Oita Prefecture, Kyushu Island, <abbr>Japan</abbr>]<abbr>. Bull. Gunma Museum Nat. Hist</abbr>. 23, (2019) (in Japanese with English abstract)</ref> Results of a [[phylogeographic]] study indicate that all living tigers have a common ancestor that lived between 108,000 and 72,000 years ago.<ref name=Luo04/> Genetic studies suggest that the tiger population contracted around 115,000 years ago due to glaciation. Modern tiger populations originated from a [[Refugium (population biology)|refugium]] in Indochina and spread across Asia after the [[Last Glacial Maximum]]. As they colonised northeastern China, the ancestors of the South China tiger intermixed with a relict tiger population.<ref name=Hu2022>{{cite journal |last1=Hu|first1=J. |last2=Westbury |first2=M. V.|last3=Yuan|first3=J. |last4=Wang|first4=C. |last5=Xiao|first5=B. |last6=Chen|first6=S. |last7=Song|first7=S. |last8=Wang |first8=L. |last9=Lin |first9=H. |last10=Lai|first10=X. |last11=Sheng|first11=G. |name-list-style=amp |year=2022|title=An extinct and deeply divergent tiger lineage from northeastern China recognized through palaeogenomics |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=289 |issue=1979 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2022.0617|pmid=35892215|pmc=9326283}}</ref><ref name=Sun2023>{{cite journal |last1=Sun |first1=X. |last2=Liu |first2=Y.-C. |last3=Tiunov |first3=M. P. |last4=Gimranov|first4=D. O. |last5=Zhuang |first5=Y. |last6=Han |first6=Y. |last7=Driscoll |first7=C. A. |last8=Driscoll|first8=C. A. |last9=Pang |first9=Y. |last10=Li |first10=C. |last11=Pan|first11=Y|last12=Velasco|first12=M. S. |last13=Gopalakrishnan |first13=S. |last14=Yang |first14=R.-Z. |last15=Li |first15=B.-G. |last16=Jin |first16=K. |last17=Xu |first17=X. |last18=Uphyrkina |first18=O. |last19=Huang |first19=Y. |last20=Wu |first20=X.-H. |last21=Gilbert |first21=M. T. P. |last22=O'Brien |first22=S. J. |last23=Yamaguchi |first23=N. |last24=Luo |first24=S.-J. |year=2023 |title=Ancient DNA reveals genetic admixture in China during tiger evolution |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=7 |issue=11 |pages=1914–1929 |doi=10.1038/s41559-023-02185-8 |pmid=37652999 |bibcode=2023NatEE...7.1914S |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>