Mitt. Komm. Quartärforsch. Österr. Akad. Wiss., 13:197–200, Wien 2004 Summary All metrical and morphological data derived from the preserved bone and teeth material have been used for a cluster-analysis. In comparison with other cave bear faunas it is evident, that the bears from Potočka zijalka are closest related to the bears from Gamssulzenhöhle (U. ingressus RABEDER et al., 2004), which corresponds to the results of the genetic analyses. Keywords: Potočka zijalka, cave bear, Ursus ingressus, Karawanken mountains, Upper Pleistocene Zusammenfassung Alle metrischen und morphologischen Daten, die aus dem überlieferten Knochen- und Zahnmaterial gewonnen wurden, sind für eine Cluster-Analyse verwendet worden. Im Vergleich mit anderen Höhlenbärenfaunen stellt sich eindeutig heraus, dass die Bären der Potočka-Höhle dem Gamssulzenbären (U. ingressus RABEDER et al., 2004) am nächsten stehen, was mit den genetischen Untersuchungen übereinstimmt. Schlüsselwörter: Potočka zijalka, Höhlenbär, Ursus in- gressus, Karawanken, Jungpleistozän Izvleček Vse merske in morfološke podatke zob in kosti smo uporabili za klastersko analizo. Po primerjavi enakih iz- sledkov raziskav jamskih medvedov iz drugih najdišč smo ugotovili, da so medvedje iz Potočke zijalke filogenetsko zelo blizu “Gamssulzen medvedom” (Ursus ingressus RABEDER et al., 2004). Te ugotovitve se ujemajo z genets- kimi raziskavami. Ključne besede: Potočka zijalka, jamski medved, Ursus ingressus, Karavanke, mlajši pleistocen 1. Introduction The affiliation of the bone and tooth material from Potočka zijalka to the cave bear group is assured on the basis of the morphology of the molars, premolars and incisors as well as its big dimensions. Only 10 years ago this conclusion would have been satisfying. Differences in metrical and morphological data would have been regarded as the result of a different level of evolution within a phylogenetic line- age, the “Ursus spelaeus-lineage”. At the most, there would have been made an intraspecific differentiation, traced back to ecological circumstances, like it is expressed, for example, by the term “high-alpine small form”, which has been brought in by K. EHRENBERG (1929) for small sized cave bears of the high-alpine karst plateau. Since the appearance of the monograph about the Gams- sulzenhöhle (RABEDER, 1991) this is seen differently. Comparative studies showed, that in two caves of the Totes Gebirge, the Ramesch-Knochenhöhle and the Gams- sulzenhöhle, which lie very close to each other, two cave bear groups, different in metrics and morphology, had been living at the same time (at least between 48.000 and 30.000 years BP) and had not intermingled (RABEDER, 1991:80-81…that leads to the hypothesis, that the bear populations of both caves lived at the same time in the same mountains, but without interbreeding, therefore they were separated in breed (hypothesis of speciation): Following this hypothesis the cave bear clade would have been split up into two lineages, into the “high-alpine form” and into the “normal form”). Studies of other Alpine bears showed, that at least a third cave bear group lived in the Alps at the same time in the Conturineshöhle in the Dolomites. A provisional family tree was drawn up in the year 2000 and presented at the cave bear symposium in A Coruña (RABEDER & NAGEL, 2001). A possibility to test this hypo- The Systematic Position of the Cave Bear from Potočka zijalka (Slovenia) Gernot RABEDER 1) , Michael HOFREITER 2) & Gerhard WITHALM 1) RABEDER, G., HOFREITER, M. & WITHALM, G., 2004. The Systematic Position of the Cave Bear from Potočka zijalka (Slovenia). — Mitt. Komm. Quartärforsch. Österr. Akad. Wiss., 13:197–200, Wien. 1) UNIV.-PROF. DR. GERNOT RABEDER & DR. GERHARD WITHALM, both: Institute of Palaeontology, Universi- ty of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. e-mail: gernot.rabeder@univie.ac.at, gerhard.withalm @univie.ac.at 2) MICHAEL HOFREITER, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolution- ary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. e-mail: hofreiter@eva.mpg.de