Ancestor representing European ursine (8)
I believe the answer is:
forebear
'ancestor' is the definition.
(I know that ancestor can be written as forebear)
'representing european ursine' is the wordplay.
'representing' becomes 'for' (as in a lawyer 'for' someone).
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'ursine' becomes 'bear' (ursine means relating to bears).
'for'+'e'+'bear'='FOREBEAR'
(Other definitions for forebear that I've seen before include "Older relative" , "Person from whom you are descended" , "one from the past" , "One of an earlier generation" , "Ancestor" .)