🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

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 overview surveys Styriofelis and related small Miocene cats, sometimes also referred to under names such as Miopanthera, that are placed near the base of the Felinae following the breakup of the…

Genomic studies have revealed that cat evolution is not a clean branching tree but a network shaped by repeated hybridization. This overview synthesizes evidence that lineages within Panthera and else…

This overview reviews the quantitative methods palaeontologists use to estimate the body mass of extinct cats such as Smilodon, Homotherium, and Panthera atrox. Because soft tissue is not preserved, r…

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…

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…

This overview surveys evidence on where and when the Panthera lineage, the genus that includes lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, and snow leopards, first arose. Molecular phylogenies place the diverge…

Modern classifications divide living cats into two subfamilies: Pantherinae (the roaring and big cats plus clouded leopards) and Felinae (most small and medium cats). This overview explains how that s…

Every scientific cat name is anchored to a type specimen and governed by the rules of zoological nomenclature, which determine priority and validity. This overview explains how type skins and skulls i…

This landmark study used molecular genetics to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the cat family, resolving the relationships among all living felids and the timing of their diversification. The…

Warren E. Johnson, Eduardo Eizirik, Jill Pecon-Slattery, William J. Murphy, Agostinho Antunes, Emma Teeling, Stephen J. O'Brien · Science · 2006

This influential study reconstructed the molecular phylogeny of all living cat species and dated their diversification, establishing the framework of eight major felid lineages used ever since. Using…

Johnson WE, Eizirik E, Pecon-Slattery J, et al. · Science · 2006