A resident of Bolivia’s Nor Yungas region found Tigrino as a cub in 2016. The small wild cat later arrived at La Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary and was thought to belong to the species Leopardus tigrinus. But when biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz and her colleagues studied his DNA, they found that he belonged to a species that had never been described.
Tigrino is now the reference animal for Leopardus tilcayo, a wild cat from Bolivia’s mountainous Yungas forests and the first living cat species newly named and described in more than a century. The study, published in Current Biology, found that tiger cats once treated as a single species actually belong to five.
“This study highlights how much there is still to discover about the planet's biodiversity. Even among charismatic and well-known animals like felines, species can remain unknown for centuries. Discovering and understanding these species is vital so that we also know how to protect them,” Eduardo Eizirik, a geneticist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, said in a press release.
How DNA Identified a New Tiger Cat Species
Tilcayos measure roughly 17 to 20 inches from head to rump, excluding the tail, with dark rings across their light brown coats. Compared with L. tigrinus, their markings are larger and their tails longer and fuller.
Explore All Options
In skulls, such as this specimen from the Smithsonian, one of its two petrous bones was drilled out for DNA extraction.
(Image Courtesy of Jonas Lescroart/CC BY 4.0)
To work out how the cats were related, Nogales-Ascarrunz, Eizirik, and their colleagues compared complete genomes from 38 animals in the genus Leopardus. Their similar markings had made different species difficult to tell apart, but their DNA allowed the team to trace their separate evolutionary histories.
Eight of those genomes came from historical specimens held in museums in Europe and the United States. These collections helped the team study populations that are now rarely seen in the wild, including cats from the Guiana Shield.
That region was especially important because L. tigrinus was originally described from animals found there in the 18th century. The study obtained the first genetic data from that population.
The comparisons suggest that the tilcayo’s ancestors split from the lineage leading to L. tigrinus and L. pardinoides around 1.4 million years ago.
Tigrino became the new species’ holotype, the specimen to which its scientific name is formally attached. Other biologists can refer to him and the published description when studying cats they think might be tilcayos.
Read More: Locals Say They've Spotted an Elusive Ghost Cat in Texas, but it's Likely Been Gone Since 1986
Keeping a Name People Already Knew
Nogales-Ascarrunz and her colleagues named the Bolivian species Leopardus tilcayo after “tilcayo,” the name local communities already used for the cat.
Individual Leopardus tilcayo that lives in La Senda Verde Animal Refuge, La Paz, Bolivia.
(Image Courtesy of Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz)
The investigation also identified a new subspecies in Peru’s Yungas forests, Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo. Its name refers to Antisuyu, a region of the former Inca Empire that included the area where the cat lives.
Although the Peruvian cats live near their Bolivian relatives, their DNA linked them more closely to cats from the distant Guiana Shield.
What Changes for Cats in the Wild
Recognizing five species means conservationists need to look separately at the numbers, ranges, and threats facing each. Cats previously counted as members of one widespread species may belong to several species living in much smaller areas.
Some species also had relatively little genetic variation, leaving them with fewer inherited differences that might help them cope as their surroundings change.
Across the group, cats face hunting, diseases passed on by domestic animals, and the loss of forests or their division into smaller, disconnected patches. Some populations live in environments particularly vulnerable to climate change.
In the paper’s acknowledgments, the authors give special thanks to the rangers at Bolivia’s Cotapata National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area. Despite the challenges they face, those rangers are already working to protect the habitat of the cat that now has its own scientific name.
Read More: New Schrödinger-Cat-Like States Created That Until Now Were Only Theoretical
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a study published in Current Biology: Phylogenomics and museomics reveal five distinct species of tiger cats in South America
