Research overview: felid biogeography and the Great American Biotic Interchange

The presence of cats in South America results from the Great American Biotic Interchange, when the Isthmus of Panama connected the Americas and allowed northern mammals to disperse south. This overview explains how felids, including ancestors of the ocelot lineage, the puma, and the jaguar, crossed into South America in the Pliocene and Pleistocene and then radiated. It discusses how the ocelot lineage diversified explosively into the many small Leopardus species, while larger cats spread across the continent. The piece connects biogeography to taxonomy, showing how the timing of colonization explains the recent, rapid speciation and persistent hybridization among Neotropical cats. It exemplifies how continental history shapes felid diversity and why understanding dispersal routes is essential for interpreting the classification of New World cats.