Beautiful new cat species is first to be named in a century
The enigmatic tiger cats of South America now encompass a new species – the tilcayo – bringing the number of known tiger cat species to five
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have identified a new species of cat called the tilcayo, Leopardus tilcayo, in Bolivia's Yungas forests. This marks the first time a new cat species has been formally named in a century. The tilcayo is a small and elusive cat species, similar in appearance to the tiger cat or oncilla. Historically, local and scientific names for these cats were subsumed under a single species called Leopardus tigrinus.
Through genetic analysis of 38 individuals from the Leopardus genus, researchers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil revealed the distinct population of tilcayos in the Bolivian Yungas forests. The new species, named after the local term for the cat, has a body length of 42 to 50 centimeters and weighs between 1.5 to 2 kilograms.
L. tilcayo diverged from the lineage containing L. tigrinus and L. pardinoides nearly 1.4 million years ago. The researchers also found a distinct group of cats in the Peruvian Yungas forests, which they describe as a novel subspecies, L. tigrinus antisuyo. With geographic barriers like mountains and rivers isolating animal populations, more cat species may be waiting to be discovered in South America, according to Leslie Lyons from the University of California, Davis.
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