Genetic analysis has shown that a cat from Bolivia’s mountain forests belongs to a distinct species. It has been named Leopardus tilcayo.
An international team led by Eduardo Eizirik of Brazil’s Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) carried out the study. The findings were published in Current Biology. The name tilcayo preserves a local name for the animal.
The researchers compared the complete genomes of 38 animals from different parts of South America. The sample included eight historical museum specimens. The analysis distinguished five separate species within the group of similar-looking cats.
One starting point was a male nicknamed Tigrino at the La Senda Verde refuge. Previously classified as Leopardus tigrinus, he was shown by DNA analysis to belong to a different evolutionary lineage.
The authors stress that conservation must be planned separately for each species. They identify habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting and infections from domestic animals among the threats. The new classification does not, by itself, provide an estimate of the tilcayo population in the wild.
