A new record of Homotherium mandible from southwestern Türkiye and its implications for the eastern Mediterranean paleobiogeography

Homotherium had a widespread distribution worldwide in the Pleistocene, but Pliocene records are exceptionally rare. Here, we describe a felid mandible from Burdur province, southwestern Türkiye, found during a geological survey. The mandible fragment presented in this study is a significant element among felids of the Anatolian Plio-Pleistocene. Though it has a rich fossil record, felids have not been studied in detail and are thus poorly known in Anatolian sites, especially Plio-Pleistocene examples. The morphological and metric data of the mandible specimen from Burdur clearly present diagnostic features attributable to Homotherium . Morphological and metrical comparisons of the mandibular specimen are compatible with specimens of Homotherium from Upper Valdarno, Sainzelles, Grauncenau, Odessa, and Kuruksay. Magnetostratigraphical constraints indicate an age interval of 3.3–2.6 Ma for the fossil-bearing layer. The Burdur specimen constitutes the most definitive material attributed to this genus in Anatolia and is identified as Homotherium latidens , marking a range expansion of this species.