online newsletter for small cats

for everybody who has only seen what is on this thread, I just had a look online and now the full issue @Arizona Docent has been discussing is available here: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream...e_Taxonomy_CatNews.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

I haven't read through it yet myself.

 

The species in the revision are as follows (@devilfish posted a link to the list on page 2 but that link no longer works, so I can't compare to see if it was precisely the same). See the paper for further discussions over the decisions, obviously. The list as below is on page 76 of the paper - although note that it is arranged in a different order than in the species accounts.

Lion Panthera leo (2 subspecies)
Jaguar Panthera onca (monotypic)
Leopard Panthera pardus (8 subspecies)
Tiger Panthera tigris (2 subspecies)
Snow Leopard Panthera uncia (monotypic)

Sunda Clouded Leopard Neofelis diardi (2 subspecies)
Mainland Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa (monotypic)

African Golden Cat Caracal aurata (2 subspecies)
Caracal Caracal caracal (3 subspecies)
Serval Leptailurus serval (3 subspecies)

Pampas Cat or Colocolo Leopardus colocola (7 subspecies)
Geoffroy's Cat Leopardus geoffroyi (monotypic)
Kodkod or Guina Leopardus guigna (2 subspecies)
Southern Tigrina Leopardus guttulus (monotypic)
Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita (monotypic)
Ocelot Leopardus pardalis (2 subspecies)
Northern Tigrina Leopardus tigrinus (2 subspecies)
Margay Leopardus weidii (3 subspecies)

Borneo Bay Cat Catopuma badia (monotypic)
Asiatic Golden Cat Catopuma temminckii (2 subspecies)
Marbled Cat Pardofelis marmorata (2 subspecies)

Canada Lynx Lynx canadensis (monotypic)
Eurasian Lynx Lynx lynx (6 subspecies)
Iberian Lynx Lynx pardinus (monotypic)
Bobcat Lynx rufus (2 subspecies)

Puma Puma concolor (2 subspecies)
Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus (4 subspecies)
Jaguarundi Herpailurus yagouaroundi (monotypic)

Mainland Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis (2 subspecies)
Sunda Leopard Cat Prionailurus javanensis (2 subspecies)
Flat-headed Cat Prionailurus planiceps (monotypic)
Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus (3 subspecies)
Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus (2 subspecies)
Pallas' Cat Otocolobus manul (2 subspecies)

Chinese Mountain Cat Felis bieti (monotypic)
Domestic Cat Felis catus (monotypic)
Jungle Cat Felis chaus (3 subspecies)
African Wild Cat Felis lybica (3 subspecies)
Sand Cat Felis margarita (2 subspecies)
Black-footed Cat Felis nigripes (monotypic)
European Wild Cat Felis silvestris (2 subspecies)


Some notes on the species list above, with regards to further research being needed (page 78 of the paper).
*Whether the Chinese Mountain Cat is specifically distinct.
*Whether the African Wild Cat may be three species. (In the paper their account is titled "steppe and bush cats of Africa and Asia" rather than African Wild Cat).
*Whether the Marbled Cat may be two species.
*Whether the Pampas Cat may be three species.
*Whether the Northern Tigrina is two species.


Some further points I thought might be worth adding.
*They do discuss that a number of their treatments are postulative (e.g. in the accounts for Tiger, African Wild Cat, Pampas Cat, etc etc).
*The Pampas Cat's specific name colocola is a correction from colocolo. The paper still combines the putative three species as one, for now. The other two would be L. braccatus and L. pajeros if split.
*The Malayan Tiger's scientific name Panthera tigris jacksoni is actually a nomen nudum.
*The Mainland and Sunda Leopard Cats may be sympatric in Peninsular Malaysia, which would certainly be interesting if that proves to be the case.
*Four Cheetah subspecies can be genetically distinguished apparently.
*The diversification of South American felids primarily occurred in North America prior to the formation of the Central American landbridge, rather than after immigration into South America.



Some personal notes:
*I find it interesting that the European Wild Cat is considered distinct but not the Indian Wild Cat (it is still contained within the African Wild Cat as of this paper's treatment).
*I am glad that the Domestic Cat is treated as an independent species, because I have Feral Cat on my life list, and I was dreading finally seeing a genuine Wild Cat species and having to juggle a proper species with the rubbish feral one.
*I'm on board with almost all the treatments in the paper, although I don't agree with the overlumping (in my opinion) of Puma and Tiger amongst a few others.

 

Indeed; as I believe I have already discussed in this thread I feel they have severely overlumped a few species, particularly the Tiger. The fact they hold all "mainland" tigers to be the same subspecies but still recognise the Amur tiger as a distinct unit for conservation purposes strikes me as implying that they were loathe to split Tiger into two species - an island and mainland species respectively, with the latter containing at least two extant subspecies - and thus elected to treat the two populations as subspecies despite recognising the mainland population contained multiple distinct "groups".

 

I think there would be general agreement that they have overlumped tigers (I think they are indirectly acknowledging this even in the paper), but at the same time tiger subspecies are probably over-split anyway. There seems little reason to separate Bali and Javan tigers other than for historical reasons, for example, and I wouldn't be particularly bothered combining them with Sumatran as one subspecies (although obviously that's somewhat technical because Sumatrans are the only ones left of the three).

Some of the mainland subspecies are probably not really separable either. The Caspian and Siberian tigers are likely to be exactly the same; and jacksoni and corbetti in particular should probably be retained as one rather than two subspecies.

For conservation purposes, I would separate Sumatran, Bengal, Siberian, and Indochinese (including Malayan and South Chinese). Those are your broad geographical and physical groupings.

 

It is a thorny problem; however even when a species complex retains a continuous distribution I would argue it can still be justified to recognise several species rather than a single, extremely variable species. The Herring Gull / Lesser Black-backed Gull complex - which covers up to eight or nine species - is probably the most notable example.

Moreover, when viewing the development of one species from another, although we view taxonomic units as absolutes, in reality they will seldom be anything *other* than clinal.... even if this is a cline spread over time rather than space.

Truth be told, the main reason I think the suggestion there is no taxonomic difference between Siberian and Indochinese populations yet Indochinese and Sumatran are deemed distinct is rather dodgy is that there is pretty much bugger-all difference between the latter two taxa and a great deal of difference between the former two

 

that article is now online: Out of the Shadows, the Wildcats You've Never Seen

There's no melanistic Asiatic Golden Cat in the online verson, but there is an African Golden Cat.

 

thanks, I'd missed that.

The individual was photographed at the Assam State Zoo, which is a bit annoying for me. I was at that zoo in 2014 and there were then no Asiatic Golden Cats on exhibit or signage for them on any cage.

 

it's frustratingly difficult to find information on when any of Satore's photos were taken. For the Assam Zoo photos I've found the melanistic Golden Cat in an article from January 2015, and the one of a Golden Langur in a document for the WAZA conference in Delhi in October 2014, so they were taken at least back as far as that (i.e. three years ago).

I was in Assam in early 2014. They may have obtained the cat after my visit, or it may simply have not been on display.

 

I just came across a photo of a different melanistic Asiatic Golden Cat, at the Tulhakon Zoo in Laos, in 2006:
File:Pardofelis temminckii in Lao Zoo.jpg - Wikimedia Commons