Prehistoric species identification

[DesertRhino150]

I have just found and read this paper from 1972 that has me interested. It concerns the discovery of several fossils of a small cat from European caves of Pleistocene origin, smaller than both a modern European wildcat and the larger Pleistocene wildcat, closer in size to a domestic cat. The species is referred to as Felis minuta; when I Googled this name all the main results seem to indicate that this name is now a synonym of the modern leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis. I was wondering if anyone knew if anything further had been found out about the identity of these fossil animals?

The paper in question is included here:
http://palaeontologicalsociety.in/vol15/v10.pdf

 

[Chlidonias]

Felis minuta as a synonym for the Leopard Cat is a different author (Temminck 1824) than the fossil species (by Schmerling 1834).

There isn't much online that even mention the fossil species - even on Google Scholar there aren't many papers, and most of them are in German or French. There are papers still listing it as a fossil species into the 2000s, although I see some others which consider it likely to just be the regular wildcat.

Temminck's use of the name (for the Leopard Cat) is earlier than Schmerling's name, though, so the fossil species shouldn't still be named Felis minuta anyway.