Leopardus

Leopardus is a genus of small cats native to the Americas. This genus is considered the oldest branch of a genetic lineage of small cats in the Americas whose common ancestor crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia to North America in the late Miocene.

Leopardus is a genus of small cats native to the Americas. This genus is considered the oldest branch of a genetic lineage of small cats in the Americas whose common ancestor crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia to North America in the late Miocene. | colspan=4 | Tiger cats. The IUCN currently recognises two species, but the MDD recognises five. In 2017 and 2021, results of genetic analyses revealed a third tigrina-like species, Leopardus emiliae. A 2021 analysis of 142 pampas cat museum specimens collected across South America showed significant morphological differences between them. Therefore, it was proposed to split the historically contentious pampas cat species complex into five species: Leopardus colocolo, Leopardus braccatus, Leopardus garleppi, Leopardus munoai, and Leopardus pajeros. Later that same year, it was noted that the oldest available name for pampas cats of the Uruguayan savannah region was Leopardus fasciatus, not L. munoai. Another new species, Leopardus narinensis was described in 2023, based on a single dried skin collected in 1989 on the Galeras Volcano in the Nariño Department of Colombia. It differs from all other Leopardus species both morphologically and genetically. In 2024, a detailed analysis of both the morphology and genetics of specimens assigned to Leopardus tigrinus, Leopardus guttulus, and Leopardus emiliae suggested L. t. pardinoides should be elevated to species status as Leopardus pardinoides due to significant differences in morphology, genetics, and ecology. The subspecies L. t. oncilla was assigned to be a subspecies of L. pardinoides as L. p. oncilla. Additionally, genetic analysis suggested that L. emiliae was not genetically distinct from L. tigrinus, and thus may be invalid. The study recommended the common names savannah tiger-cat for L. tigrinus, Atlantic Forest tiger-cat for L. guttulus, and clouded tiger-cat for L. pardinoides. In 2026, a cat found in Bolivia was described as a new species, Leopardus tilcayo. The IUCN has yet to formally recognize this species. An expanded list of Leopardus species would be: Leopardus braccatus, the Pantanal cat or Brazilian pampas cat Leopardus colocola, the colocolo or Central Chilean pampas cat Leopardus emiliae, the eastern tigrina or Snethlage's tigrina Leopardus fasciatus, Muñoa's pampas cat or Uruguayan pampas cat Leopardus garleppi, the northern pampas cat or Garlepp's pampas cat Leopardus geoffroyi, Geoffroy's cat Leopardus guigna, the kodkod Leopardus guttulus, the southern tigrina or Atlantic Forest tiger-cat Leopardus jacobita, the Andean mountain cat Leopardus pajeros, the southern pampas cat Leopardus pardalis, the ocelot Leopardus pardinoides, the clouded tiger cat Leopardus tigrinus, the oncilla, northern tigrina, or savannah tiger-cat Leopardus weidii, the margay Leopardus narinensis, the Nariño cat, Galeras cat, or red tigrina Leopardus tilcayo, the tilcayo

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