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| credit: Projeto Gatos do Mato-Brasil |
As well understood as the family
Felidae is to science, it is surprising to discover a new species of cat living in the Atlantic coast rainforest of Brazil. A new species of cat was announced on November 27, 2013. Scientists studying the molecules of the tigrina or oncilla as it is known in Central America is actually two separate species that do not inter-breed. One lives in the Atlantic forests and the other lives in the cerrado and Caatinga ecosystems of northeaster Brazil. The new cat is officially named
Leopardus guttulus The two tigrina populations have been separated for at least 100,000 according to biologists Eduardo Eizirik who is the lead author of a paper describing the discovery in the journal
Current Biology. Tigrinas are about the size of a large domestic cat and are related to better known ocelots and margays which they resemble. Tigrinas are found as far north as Costa Rica and west to Ecuador.
Because of their beautiful coats and small size, tigrinas could become the target of the
ruthless pet trade that could attempt to interbreed the wild feline with domestic cats to satisfy the
demand for exotic breeds such as Savannahs ( a cross with the African cerval, Bengals (x Asian leopard cat) and the Chausie ( x Asian jungle cat). Both species of tigrina inhabit areas that are rapidly being degraded. Only 7% of the Atlantic coast rainforest remains in fragments. DNA testing revealed the existence of a new clouded leopard, the Sunda in 2006. If the testing on the tigrina is generally accepted by science, it will be the 41st species of cat in the world
