Die altpleistozänen Bären von Deutsch-Altenburg (Niederösterreich)

Over 100 ursid remains have been retrieved from the Early Pleistocene cave fillings of the Hollitzer quarry near Deutsch-Altenburg (Lower Austria). Apart from isolated teeth and postcranial (skeleton) elements, there are also one in situ forelimb and an almost complete natural endocast of a brain (“fossil brain”), which enable otherwise impossible comparative studies. The ursid remains belong to a primitive representative of the brown bear group. The discoveries at Deutsch-Altenburg are also of great importance to the phylogeny and the distribution history of the ursids, because, as the geologically earliest brown bear remains, they cast doubt on previous theories, and because the split into the brown bear group and the cave bear group must have happened before the Early Pleistocene. Various possible divergence modes are discussed.