Morphometry of lower cheek teeth of cave bears (Carnivora, Ursidae) and general remarks on the dentition variability

The variability of lower 6776 cheek teeth of spelaeoid ( Ursus spelaeus , U. kanivetz , U. deningeri , U. kudarensis , U. savini and U. rossicus ) and arctoid lineages (extant and extinct U. arctos ) recovered from 176 palaeontological localities was analysed by methods of univariate and multivariate statistics. For comparison, teeth of U . minimus and U. etruscus species, which are ancestral taxa for cave bears and brown bear, were studied. The...