🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

This landmark supertree assembled disparate published phylogenies into the first complete species-level tree of the carnivores, including all then-recognized cats. It pioneered the supertree method fo…

Bininda-Emonds ORP, Gittleman JL, Purvis A · Biological Reviews · 1999

Faced with rampant hybridization between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats, this study developed a pelage-based scoring system to distinguish genuine wildcats from hybrids and feral domestic cats. T…

Kitchener AC, Yamaguchi N, Ward JM, Macdonald DW · Animal Conservation · 2005

The landmark synthesis that re-anchored modern felid taxonomy. A 16-member IUCN Cat Specialist Group task force reviewed morphological, molecular, biogeographic, and behavioral evidence across all liv…

Kitchener AC, Breitenmoser-Wursten C, Eizirik E, et al. · Cat News Special Issue 11 · 2017

This study built a comprehensive, dated phylogeny of the order Carnivora, placing the Felidae within the broader carnivoran tree and providing divergence times for cats relative to their relatives. By…

Nyakatura K, Bininda-Emonds ORP · BMC Biology · 2012

This monographic revision examined the pampas cats of South America, a group then placed in the genus Lynchailurus, and analyzed their morphological variation and biogeography. The author documented s…

Garcia-Perea R · American Museum Novitates · 1994

This morphological revision used skull measurements and pelage to assess variation among mainland Southeast Asian tigers and supported recognition of the Malayan tiger as distinct from the Indochinese…

Mazak JH, Groves CP · Mammalian Biology · 2006

This morphological study measured wildcat skulls to test whether the European, African, and Asian wildcat groups differ consistently in cranial form. Analyzing museum specimens, the authors found that…

Yamaguchi N, Driscoll CA, Kitchener AC, et al. · Biological Journal of the Linnean Society · 2004

This study examined lion population history using both the lions' own genetic markers and the genetic signatures of their viruses, an innovative dual approach. By analyzing host DNA alongside feline i…

Antunes A, Troyer JL, Roelke ME, et al. · PLoS Genetics · 2008

The carnivore volume of this reference series provides one of the most comprehensive modern species-by-species treatments of the cat family, with detailed accounts of distribution, taxonomy, and natur…

Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA (eds) · Handbook of the Mammals of the World, Vol. 1: Carnivores · 2009

Before the 2017 task force, the most widely cited global checklist of mammal taxonomy was Mammal Species of the World, whose carnivore section codified the accepted list of cat species and subspecies.…

Wozencraft WC (Wilson DE, Reeder DM eds) · Mammal Species of the World, 3rd ed. · 2005

This study focused on the poorly sampled lions of West and Central Africa and found them genetically distinct from East and Southern African lions, instead allied with the Asiatic lion. By analyzing m…

Bertola LD, van Hooft WF, Vrieling K, et al. · Journal of Biogeography · 2011

This study sequenced whole genomes from tigers representing the major living populations and found strong genomic support for distinct subspecies despite the tiger's recent origin. The authors detecte…

Liu YC, Sun X, Driscoll C, et al. · Current Biology · 2018

This genomic study sequenced multiple Panthera species and found pervasive evidence that gene flow between lineages, not just simple branching, shaped big cat evolution. The authors detected introgres…

Figueiro HV, Li G, Trindade FJ, et al. · Science Advances · 2017

This study used molecular markers to assess genetic variation across the puma's enormous range from Canada to Patagonia and found surprisingly low diversity in North America. The authors concluded tha…

Culver M, Johnson WE, Pecon-Slattery J, O'Brien SJ · Journal of Heredity · 2000

This genomic study examined the enigmatic Chinese mountain cat of the Tibetan Plateau and clarified its relationship to other wildcats and to domestic cats in China. Using genome-wide data, the author…

Yu H, Xing YT, Meng H, et al. · Science Advances · 2021

This study sequenced the cheetah genome and documented its extreme genetic uniformity, a legacy of severe historical bottlenecks. The authors found very low genome-wide diversity, including in immune-…

Dobrynin P, Liu S, Tamazian G, et al. · Genome Biology · 2015

This morphological companion to the molecular split examined pelage and skull characters across clouded leopards and found that Sunda island animals differ consistently from mainland ones. The authors…

Kitchener AC, Beaumont MA, Richardson D · Current Biology · 2006

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 lineag…

Masuda R, Yoshida MC · Zoological Science · 1995

This study combined ancient and modern mitochondrial DNA to reconstruct the lion's maternal history, including extinct populations such as the Barbary and Cape lions. The authors used a spatially expl…

Barnett R, Yamaguchi N, Shapiro B, et al. · BMC Evolutionary Biology · 2014

This study extracted DNA from museum specimens of the extinct Caspian tiger and compared it with living subspecies, revealing that the Caspian and Amur tigers were extremely close genetically, essenti…

Driscoll CA, Yamaguchi N, Bar-Gal GK, et al. · PLoS ONE · 2009

This study used genetic data to investigate the small spotted cats of South America and uncovered a cryptic species hidden within what was called the oncilla or tigrina. The authors found that northea…

Trigo TC, Schneider A, de Oliveira TG, et al. · Current Biology · 2013

This study used multiple genetic markers to compare mainland and Sunda island clouded leopards and found divergence comparable to that between well-recognized cat species. The authors showed that clou…

Buckley-Beason VA, Johnson WE, Nash WG, et al. · Current Biology · 2006

An early molecular study of the big cats that used mitochondrial 12S rRNA and cytochrome b sequences to probe relationships within the Panthera group. This work was among the first to apply DNA sequen…

Janczewski DN, Modi WS, Stephens JC, O'Brien SJ · Molecular Biology and Evolution · 1995

When the Iriomote cat was discovered on the small Japanese island of Iriomote, it was originally described as a strikingly distinct felid, placed in its own genus and species and treated as a living r…

Imaizumi Y · 1967

This study examined sex-chromosome DNA sequences to estimate the timing and pattern of diversification across the cat family. By comparing X- and Y-linked markers, which evolve at different rates and…

Pecon-Slattery J, O'Brien SJ · Genetics · 1998

This study provided the first range-wide molecular assessment of the leopard, using mitochondrial and microsatellite data to evaluate the many subspecies that had been named on morphology. The authors…

Uphyrkina O, Johnson WE, Quigley H, et al. · Molecular Ecology · 2001

This study used genome-scale data to reconstruct felid relationships and uncovered widespread evidence that hybridization shaped cat evolution. By comparing many independent genomic regions, the autho…

Li G, Davis BW, Eizirik E, Murphy WJ · Genome Research · 2016

This analysis combined available morphological and molecular characters to estimate a phylogeny for the cat family and to discuss patterns of speciation. Conducted before the genomic era, it represent…

Mattern MY, McLennan DA · Cladistics · 2000

This morphological study reconstructed relationships among the pantherine cats while explicitly incorporating fossil taxa and testing how missing data affect tree inference. Working from cranial and s…

Christiansen P · Cladistics · 2008

This study used mitochondrial and nuclear markers across the lion's range to map genetic structure and found a deep division between northern lions (West and Central Africa plus Asia) and southern lio…

Bertola LD, Jongbloed H, van der Gaag KJ, et al. · Scientific Reports · 2016