Felis leo was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the lion in his

work Systema Naturae. The genus name Panthera was coined by German naturalist Lorenz Oken in
1816.[11] Between the mid-18th and mid-20th centuries, 26 lion specimens were described and
proposed as subspecies, of which 11 were recognised as valid in 2005. They were distinguished on
the basis of appearance, size and colour of mane. Because these characteristics show much
variation between individuals, most of these forms were probably not true subspecies, especially
because they were often based upon museum material with "striking, but abnormal" morphological
characteristics.[12]
Based on the morphology of 58 lion skulls in three European museums, the
subspecies krugeri, nubica, persica and senegalensis were assessed distinct
but bleyenberghi overlapped with senegalensis and krugeri. The Asiatic lion persica was the most
distinctive and the Cape lion had characteristics allying it more with persica than the other sub-
Saharan lions.
The lion's closest relatives are the other species of the genus Panthera; the tiger, snow
leopard, jaguar, and leopard. Results of phylogenetic studies published in 2006 and 2009 indicate
that the jaguar and the lion belong to one sister group that diverged about 2.06 million years
ago. Results of later studies published in 2010 and 2011 indicate that the leopard and the lion belong
to the same sister group, which diverged between 1.95 and 3.10 million years
ago. Hybridisation between lion and snow leopard ancestors, however, may have continued until
about 2.1 million years ago