Cat Taxonomy to be reviewed/revised

[Arizona Docent]

Just got the latest issue of Cat News (autumn 2011 - received January 2012 - they always run late). The opening page states that the IUCN Cat Specialist Group (which publishes Cat News twice a year) is going to do a major review of felid taxonomy. Excerpts from the article:

"How many cat species are there today - thirty-six, thirty-seven, a few less or a few more?
...We have therefore decided to establish a Cat Classification Task Force with the goal to propose...an updated and practical classification of the Felidae.
...The CCFT will be chaired by Andrew Kitchener, Principal Curator of Vertebrates at the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.
...The aim is to finish the work until the end of 2012 and to publish the updated cat classification as a Cat News Special Issue in spring 2013."

It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

 

[jbnbsn99]

Excellent. I am sitting here with the my copy of the new Ungulate Taxonomy book in my lap as I am typing this. Wonder what system of classification they will use?

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Excellent. I am sitting here with the my copy of the new Ungulate Taxonomy book in my lap as I am typing this. Wonder what system of classification they will use?

Both indeed excellent. Allthough, in the latter case I sometimes am mystified. We have the splitters' and the lumpers' in any taxonomy. All the same love ma Dr. Groves!

 

[Jurek7]

There were already attempts to split Sumatran tiger as a different species, but nobody believed it.

Most interesting question is probably whether Oncilla and Geoffroy's/Pampas/Pantanal Cats should be split into more species - and where are eventual borders.

 

[IanRRobinson]

There were already attempts to split Sumatran tiger as a different species, but nobody believed it.

Most interesting question is probably whether Oncilla and Geoffroy's/Pampas/Pantanal Cats should be split into more species - and where are eventual borders.

Does anyone else think that both Leopard Cat and Temminck's /Asian Golden Cat merit examination? Both are wide-ranging species with a great deal of variation.

 

[Jurek7]

Leopard cat taxonomy was reviewed at least in context that Amur and Iriomote cats do not deserve species status.

With Teminck's cat I don't know. Surprisingly little is known on Chinese populations, where many (possibly most) individuals are spotted ocelot-like.

One more interesting species might be African Golden Cat - visually very variable species very little studied.

 

[IanRRobinson]

Leopard cat taxonomy was reviewed at least in context that Amur and Iriomote cats do not deserve species status.

With Teminck's cat I don't know. Surprisingly little is known on Chinese populations, where many (possibly most) individuals are spotted ocelot-like.

One more interesting species might be African Golden Cat - visually very variable species very little studied.

Yes, it's a curiously overlooked animal. Notionally, it has a pretty wide distribution, and yet very little is known about it. For that matter, it's very seldom been seen in captivity over the last 30 odd years. Even its affinities seem problematic; the clade of Golden Cat, Serval and Caracal seems a bit of a dumping ground.