🧬 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 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 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 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

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

This study analyzed mitochondrial and microsatellite markers from tigers across their range and provided the first comprehensive molecular framework supporting multiple traditional subspecies. The aut…

Luo SJ, Kim JH, Johnson WE, et al. · PLoS Biology · 2004

This study argued that tigers are best treated as just two subspecies, a continental form and a Sunda-island form, rather than the traditional six or nine. Reanalyzing morphological, ecological, molec…

Wilting A, Courtiol A, Christiansen P, et al. · Science Advances · 2015

Tigers vary in ground color, stripe density, and body size across their range, and these traits were historically used to distinguish subspecies. This overview examines how reliable coat characters ar…

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…

How tigers are classified directly affects how they are conserved. This overview explains the practical stakes of the subspecies debate: subspecies define studbook management, set boundaries for trans…

Several tiger populations vanished in the 20th century, including the Caspian, Bali, and Javan tigers, and ancient or historical DNA has been used to clarify their relationships. This overview surveys…

Conservation genetics distinguishes formal subspecies from management units and evolutionarily significant units, and this distinction is central to tiger planning. This overview explains how managers…

Before and alongside molecular work, tiger subspecies were assessed by measuring skulls and body proportions. This overview explains how craniometric analyses, comparing dimensions across museum speci…

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 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 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 snow leopard's relationships within the big cats were long uncertain, with some classifications isolating it in its own genus, Uncia. This overview explains how molecular phylogenetics resolved it…

Clouded leopards occupy a pivotal position as the sister group to the other big cats within the subfamily Pantherinae. This overview explains how molecular phylogenies consistently place the genus Neo…

This overview explains the reasoning the Cat Classification Task Force used to justify a major revision rather than incremental edits. It describes the decision rules adopted: recognize taxa only when…

Sequencing the snow leopard genome alongside those of the tiger and lion advanced both big cat phylogenetics and the study of high-altitude adaptation. This overview surveys how the snow leopard genom…

The recognition of the southern tigrina, Leopardus guttulus, as a species distinct from the northern tigrina, Leopardus tigrinus, is a notable recent split among Neotropical cats. This overview review…

Subspecies inflation, the naming of many weakly supported geographic forms, has long plagued large carnivore taxonomy and complicates conservation. This overview explains how cats accumulated dozens o…

The South China tiger, historically regarded as the stem population from which other tigers radiated, is functionally extinct in the wild and survives only in captivity. This overview examines its tax…

Few felid controversies are as prominent as how many subspecies of tiger exist. This overview lays out the competing positions: a conservative two-subspecies scheme (mainland and Sunda) advanced on co…

Few felid groups have generated as much naming confusion as the small spotted tiger cats of South America, variously called oncilla, tigrina, or tiger cat. This overview traces the tangled taxonomy, f…

Cat classification is not merely academic; it directly shapes how cats are protected. This overview explains how taxonomy underlies Red List assessments, CITES appendices, and national legislation, al…

Black panthers are melanistic leopards (or jaguars), and their existence is often misunderstood as indicating a separate species or subspecies. This overview explains the genetics of leopard melanism,…

Relationships among the big cats long resisted resolution because of short internal branches and conflicting markers. This study assembled a large multi-gene dataset and applied both concatenated supe…

Davis BW, Li G, Murphy WJ · Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution · 2010