Maternal demographic history of Panthera leo from ancient DNA

This study combined ancient and modern mitochondrial DNA to reconstruct the lion's maternal history, including extinct populations such as the Barbary and Cape lions. The authors used a spatially explicit genealogical analysis to infer how lions expanded and contracted across Africa and into Eurasia during the Pleistocene and Holocene. They confirmed deep north-south structuring and clarified the relationships of extinct North African and southern African lions to surviving populations. For taxonomy, the work supported the recognition of major lion lineages that underpin the two-subspecies scheme and showed that some historically named forms, like the Barbary lion, belong to the broader northern clade. The paper exemplifies how ancient DNA recovers the deeper history that shapes present-day classification of a wide-ranging cat.