Felis is a
genus of small and medium-sized cat
species native to most of
Africa and south of 60°
latitude in
Europe and
Asia to
Indochina. The genus includes the
domestic cat. The smallest of the seven Felis species is the
black-footed cat with a head and body length from 38 to 42 cm (15 to 17 in). The largest is the
jungle cat with a head and body length from 62 to 76 cm (24 to 30 in).[1]
Genetic studies indicate that the
Felinae genera Felis, Otocolobus and Prionailurus diverged from a Eurasian progenitor of the
Felidae about 6.2 million years ago, and that Felis species split off 3.04 to 0.99 million years ago.[2][3]
Etymology
The generic name Felis is derived from
Classical Latinfēlis meaning 'cat, ferret'.[4]
Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus considered Felis to comprise all cat species known until 1758.[5] Later taxonomists split the
cat family into different genera. In 1917, the British zoologist
Reginald Innes Pocock revised the genus Felis as comprising only the ones listed in the following table.[1] Estimated
genetic divergence times of the listed species are indicated in
million years ago (Mya), based on analysis of
autosomal, xDNA, yDNA and
mtDNA gene segments.[2]
Felis species have high and wide skulls, short jaws and narrow ears with short tufts, but without any white spots on the back of the ears. Their
pupils contract to a vertical slit.[1]
A black cat from
Transcaucasia described in 1904 as F. daemon by
Satunin[23] turned out to be a
feral cat, probably a
hybrid of wildcat and domestic cat.[24]
The
Kellas cat is a hybrid between domestic cat and European wildcat occurring in
Scotland.[25]
The
Corsican wildcat is considered to have been introduced to Corsica before the beginning of the 1st millennium.[26][27] A genetic study of a dozen individuals showed that they are closely related to the African wildcat originating in the Middle East.[28]
^Valpy, F. E. J. (1828).
"Felis". An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language. London: A. J. Valpy.
^
abLinnaeus, C. (1758).
"Felis". Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th reformed ed.). Holmiae: Laurentii Salvii. pp. 42–44.
^Clutton-Brock, J. (1999) [1987].
"Cats". A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 133–140.
ISBN9780521634953.
OCLC39786571.
^Schreber, J. C. D. (1778).
"Die wilde Kaze" [The Wild Cat]. Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen (Dritter Theil). Erlangen: Expedition des Schreber'schen Säugthier- und des Esper'schen Schmetterlingswerkes. pp. 397–402.
^Schreber, J. C. D. (1778).
"Der Kirmyschak". Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen (in German). Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. pp. 414–416.
^Forster, G. R. (1780).
"LIII. Der Karakal". Herrn von Büffons Naturgeschichte der vierfüssigen Thiere. Mit Vermehrungen, aus dem Französischen übersetzt. Sechster Band [Mr. von Büffon‘s Natural History of Quadrupeds. With additions, translated from French. Volume 6]. Berlin: Joachim Pauli. pp. 299–319.
^Burchell, W. J. (1824).
"Felis nigripes". Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, Vol. II. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. p. 592.
^Kitchener, C.; Easterbee, N. (1992). "The taxonomic status of black wild felids in Scotland". Journal of Zoology. 227 (2): 342−346.
doi:
10.1111/j.1469-7998.1992.tb04832.x.
^Vigne, J.-D. (1992). "Zooarchaeology and the biogeographical history of the mammals of Corsica and Sardinia since the last ice age". Mammal Review. 22 (2): 87–96.
doi:
10.1111/j.1365-2907.1992.tb00124.x.
^Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting, A.; Yamaguchi, N.; Abramov, A. V.; Christiansen, P.; Driscoll, C.; Duckworth, J. W.; Johnson, W.; Luo, S.-J.; Meijaard, E.; O’Donoghue, P.; Sanderson, J.; Seymour, K.; Bruford, M.; Groves, C.; Hoffmann, M.; Nowell, K.; Timmons, Z.; Tobe, S. (2017).
"A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group"(PDF). Cat News. Special Issue 11: 17−20.