🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 conducted the first range-wide genetic analysis of the snow leopard and proposed dividing the species into three subspecies. Using noninvasive samples collected across the snow leopard's mo…

Janecka JE, Zhang Y, Li D, et al. · Journal of Heredity · 2017

Molecular studies consistently show that African leopards, despite occupying a vast and varied continent, harbor relatively shallow genetic structure compared with the deep splits separating Asian for…

The caracal ranges widely across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and into India, and this broad distribution has produced named subspecies and biogeographic questions. This overview surveys car…

The sequencing of cat genomes, beginning with the domestic cat and extending to tiger, lion, snow leopard, cheetah, and others, transformed felid systematics. This overview surveys how whole-genome da…

Recognizing two clouded leopard species reshaped conservation planning across Southeast Asia. This overview explains how the split meant that the Sunda clouded leopard, confined to Borneo and Sumatra,…

Clouded leopards have remarkable skulls and the longest canine teeth relative to body size of any living cat, and cranial characters contributed to recognizing two species. This overview discusses how…

Recognizing two leopard cat species raises the practical question of where the boundary between them lies. This overview examines how the mainland leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis, and the Sunda…

Geoffroy's cat and the kodkod (guigna) are closely related small cats of southern South America whose relationships illuminate the Leopardus radiation. This overview examines their phylogenetic placem…

The Indian subcontinent hosts two recognized leopard subspecies, the Indian leopard of the mainland and the Sri Lankan leopard isolated on its island. This overview examines the evidence distinguishin…

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 overvie…

A striking feature of the Leopardus radiation is extensive hybridization where species ranges meet, complicating taxonomy. This overview surveys documented hybrid zones, such as between the southern t…

Integrative taxonomy combines independent data classes (morphology, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, ecology, biogeography, and behavior) to delimit taxa, and it has become the standard for resolving ca…

The leopard cat lineage offers a natural laboratory for studying how island isolation shapes felid taxonomy. This overview surveys how leopard cats colonized numerous islands across Asia, from Japan t…

Leopards are assessed both as a species and at the subspecies level, and the consolidation of subspecies by genetics directly affects conservation prioritization. This overview explains how recognizin…

A recurring complication in felid systematics is that trees built from mitochondrial DNA often disagree with those from nuclear DNA. This overview explains why: the maternally inherited mitochondrion…

Whether the snow leopard should be split into subspecies is an active debate. This overview contrasts the traditional treatment of the snow leopard as a monotypic species with a 2017 proposal recogniz…

The history of cat classification is largely a story of tension and eventual integration between morphological and molecular approaches. This overview compares the two: morphology, including skull mor…

Coat pattern played a central role in confirming the clouded leopard split. This overview describes the diagnostic pelage differences: Sunda clouded leopards tend to have smaller, darker cloud marking…

After the Sunda clouded leopard, Neofelis diardi, was recognized as a species, attention turned to whether its Bornean and Sumatran populations are themselves distinct. This overview reviews studies s…