and colour of mane.

Because these characteristics show much variation between individuals, most

ofand 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 these forms were probably not true subspecies 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
. 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, especially because they were often based upon museum material with "striking, but abnormal"
morphological characteristics.[12]
.
Felis leo was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the lion in his 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 lionswork Systema Naturae