Ursidae (Carnivora, Mammalia) from Tunel Wielki Cave (southern Poland)

The presence of two ursids, Ursus deningeri hercynicus Rode, 1935 and Ursus arctos taubachensis Rode, 1935, was documented from the Tunel Wielki Cave. Of them, Ursus deningeri hercynicus is represented by almost all skeletal elements, with the predominance of isolated teeth, metapodials and phalanges. The analysis performed shows that the remains of this bear subspecies from Tunel Wielki have intermediate morphological features and metric values between individuals recorded in the materials from the early-mid (MIS 19-13) and late Middle Pleistocene (MIS 12-9) localities. A set of features suggests a more recent geological age than MIS 19-13. Most of these characters were found in the dental material, while postcranial bones have a rather limited biochronological and taxonomical value. The material of Ursus arctos taubachensis is represented by five bones. Together with the German site Bad Frankenhausen, Tunel Wielki Cave probably documented the first appearance of the species of Asian origin and related to the Mammoth Fauna in Europe.