🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

The Iberian lynx, Lynx pardinus, is a critically endangered Mediterranean felid recognized as a full species distinct from the Eurasian lynx. This overview reviews the evidence for its species status,…

The Iberian lynx genome, among the first sequenced for an endangered cat, revealed the genomic consequences of its extreme population decline. This overview surveys how genomic studies documented exce…

The Javan leopard, Panthera pardus melas, is an isolated and threatened population restricted to the island of Java, frequently melanistic. This overview reviews evidence for its status as a distinct…

The pampas cat, Leopardus colocola, shows dramatic variation in coat color and pattern across its wide South American range, fueling long debate over whether it is one variable species or several. Thi…

The Persian or Caucasian leopard, the largest leopard subspecies, ranges across the Caucasus, Iran, and Central Asia and is recognized as Panthera pardus tulliana following nomenclatural review. This…

The Tsushima cat, restricted to Tsushima Island between Japan and Korea, is a critically endangered population of the leopard cat. This overview examines its taxonomic status, established by molecular…

The Barbary lion of North Africa, famed for its dark, full mane, went extinct in the wild during the 20th century, and its status has fascinated taxonomists. This overview reviews ancient and historic…

The bay cat lineage is one of the eight major felid lineages and comprises three Southeast Asian cats: the bay cat, the Asian golden cat, and the marbled cat. This overview surveys the lineage, placin…

The Pleistocene cave lion was a widespread Eurasian and Beringian predator, and ancient DNA has clarified how it relates to living lions. This overview summarizes genetic evidence that the cave lion,…

A consistent finding across lion genetics is a deep division between northern and southern populations that crosses the Sahara and reaches into Asia. This overview explains the evidence for this split…

Most cats share a conserved chromosome number, but the ocelot lineage is distinguished by a reduced karyotype resulting from a chromosomal fusion. This overview explains how Leopardus species carry 36…

Molecular phylogenetics partitions all living cats into eight monophyletic lineages, a framework that now organizes felid taxonomy. This overview names and characterizes them: the Panthera lineage (bi…

The bay cat, Catopuma badia, is endemic to Borneo and among the least known of all cats, with very few observations or specimens. This overview examines its taxonomy, including its placement in the ba…

Wildcats on some Mediterranean islands, such as Sardinia, Corsica, and Crete, were long treated as native subspecies, but genetic studies suggest they descend from cats introduced by humans. This over…

The genus Prionailurus includes not only leopard cats but also the fishing cat and flat-headed cat, specialized wetland felids. This overview examines their placement within the leopard cat lineage an…

The lynx lineage has a rich fossil record that informs the origin of modern species. This overview surveys the paleontological history, including the Issoire lynx, Lynx issiodorensis, an extinct Plioc…

The Asiatic lion of India's Gir Forest is the last surviving lion population in Asia and has long been treated as a distinct subspecies, Panthera leo persica. This overview examines its genetic status…

Molecular work prompted a revision in which the African golden cat moved from Profelis into Caracal, formally becoming Caracal aurata. This overview examines the evidence and reasoning behind the chan…

Across the late 19th and early 20th centuries, naturalists named dozens of felid subspecies using trinomials, often from a single skin, skull, or locality. This overview traces that era, when type spe…

The Cape lion of southern Africa, extinct since the 19th century and noted for its dark mane, was once thought to be a distinct subspecies. This overview reviews genetic studies of museum specimens th…

The Sunda islands once held three tiger populations, of which only the Sumatran survives; the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct. This overview examines how these island forms figure in tiger taxonomy.…

The jaguar, the only Panthera species in the Americas, occupies an informative position in big cat phylogeny. This overview explains how molecular data place the jaguar within the genus Panthera, clos…

The jaguarundi is an unusual, weasel-like small cat of the Americas whose taxonomy was clarified by molecular phylogenetics. This overview explains how genetic data placed the jaguarundi in the puma l…

The leopard cat is the most widespread small cat in Asia, occupying habitats from Siberian forests to tropical islands, and its broad range produces extensive geographic variation. This overview surve…

The perennial tension between lumpers, who favor fewer broad taxa, and splitters, who recognize many fine ones, is sharply visible in cat classification. This overview examines how the debate plays ou…

The lynx lineage comprises four species: the Eurasian lynx, the Iberian lynx, the Canada lynx, and the bobcat. This overview surveys their relationships and biogeography, explaining how molecular phyl…

The marbled cat, Pardofelis marmorata, is a small, arboreal Southeast Asian felid whose clouded-leopard-like coat once suggested a relationship to the big cats. This overview explains how molecular ph…

Leopards once carried more than two dozen named subspecies, but molecular work collapsed this to roughly eight or nine. This overview lists the currently recognized subspecies: the African leopard, pl…

The Malayan tiger of the southern Malay Peninsula was formally separated from the Indochinese tiger in the early 2000s based on molecular evidence of genetic distinctiveness. This overview describes h…

The ocelot lineage comprises the small spotted cats of the Americas, nearly all placed in the genus Leopardus, and represents a relatively recent and rapid radiation. This overview surveys the group,…