Iriomote and Tsushima cats share the leopard cat mitochondrial lineage

This molecular study compared the mitochondrial DNA of Japan's two wild cats, the Iriomote cat and the Tsushima cat, with that of the mainland leopard cat and found that both belong to the same lineage as Prionailurus bengalensis. The result demolished the earlier view that the Iriomote cat was a unique relic deserving its own genus, showing instead that it is an insular population of the leopard cat. The Tsushima cat likewise proved to be a leopard cat population. The work exemplifies how molecular data overturned a morphology-based generic classification, leading to the reclassification of the Iriomote cat as a leopard cat subspecies. It is a frequently cited case of genetics revealing that apparent distinctiveness reflected island isolation rather than deep evolutionary divergence.