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Ursus is a genus in the family Ursidae (bears) that includes the widely distributed brown bears, the polar bear, and black bears. The name is derived from the Latin ursus, meaning bear.

Species and subspecies of Ursus

• American Black Bear, Ursus americanus
  • Cinnamon bear, Ursus americanus cinnamomum
  • Kermode bear, Ursus americanus kermodei
  • Florida black bear, Ursus americanus floridanus
• Brown Bear, Ursus arctos
  • European brown bear, Ursus arctos arctos
  • East Siberian brown bear, Ursus arctos collaris
  • Kamchatka brown bear, Ursus arctos beringianus
  • Atlas bear, Ursus arctos crowtheri (extinct)
  • Gobi bear, Ursus arctos gobiensis
  • Grizzly bear, Ursus arctos horribilis
  • Himalayan brown bear, Ursus arctos isabellinus
  • Kodiak bear, Ursus arctos middendorffi
  • Mexican grizzly bear, Ursus arctos nelsoni (extinct?)
  • Tibetan blue bear, Ursus arctos pruinosus
  • Syrian brown bear, Ursus arctos syriacus
  • Ussuri brown bear, Ursus arctos lasiotus
• Deninger's bear, Ursus deningeri (extinct)
• Etruscan bear, Ursus etruscus (extinct)
• Polar bear, Ursus maritimus (earlier Thalarctos maritimus)
  • (No common name), Ursus maritimus maritimus (classification contested)
  • (No common name), Ursus maritimus marinus (classification contested)
  • (No common name), Ursus maritimus tyrannus (extinct)
• Auvergne bear, Ursus minimus (extinct)
• Cave bear, Ursus spelaeus (extinct)
• Asiatic black bear, Ursus thibetanus, or Selenarctos thibetanus
  • Formosan black bear, Ursus thibetanus formosanus
  • Baluchistan bear or Pakistan black bear, Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus
  • (No common name), Ursus thibetanus japonica
  • (No common name), Ursus thibetanus laniger
  • (No common name), Ursus thibetanus mupinensis
  • (No common name), Ursus thibetanus thibetanus
  • (No common name), Ursus thibetanus ussuricus^{[verification needed]}

A hybrid between grizzly bears and polar bears has also been recorded (known commonly as a pizzly bear). The official name is a grizzly–polar bear hybrid.

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Ursus etruscus (Etruscan bear) is an extinct species of mammal of the family Ursidae (bears), endemic to Europe, Asia and North Africa during the Pliocene through Pleistocene, living from ~5.3 Mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately 5.289 million years.

Ursus etruscus appears to have come from Ursus minimus and gave rise to the brown bear, Ursus arctos, and the cave bear, Ursus spelaeus. The range of Ursus etruscus is mostly continental Europe with specimens also recovered in the Great steppe region of Eurasia. The latest fossil evidence for Ursus etruscus was recovered in Israel, Croatia, and Toscana, Italy dating at 1.8 Mya to 11,000 years.

Some scientists have proposed that the early, small variety of U. etruscus of the middle Villafranchian era survives in the form of the modern Asian black bear.^[1]

Morphology

Not unlike the brown bears of Europe in size, it had a full complement of premolars, a trait carried from genus of Ursavus.

Fossil distribution

Sites and specimen ages:

• Vassiloudi, Macedonia Greece ~5.3—1.8 Ma.
• Obigarm, Tajikistan ~5.3—1.8 Ma.
• Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco ~3.6—1.8 Ma.
• Pardines, Auvergne, France ~2.5—1.8 Ma.
• Dmanisi, Georgia ~1.8 Ma.—800,000 years ago.
• Mestas de Con, Cangas de Onis, Asturias, Spain ~1.8—100,000 years ago.^[2]
• Strmica, Croatia ~1.8—11,000 years ago.^[3]

References

Tracking the origins of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) by mitochondrial DNA sequencing