Felidae


Felidae is a family of mammals in the order Carnivora, colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid. The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the domestic cat.
Felidae species exhibit the most diverse fur pattern of all terrestrial carnivores. Cats have retractile claws, slender muscular bodies and strong flexible forelimbs. Their teeth and facial muscles allow for a powerful bite. They are all obligate carnivores, and most are solitary predators ambushing or stalking their prey. Wild cats occur in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some wild cat species are adapted to forest habitats, some to arid environments, and a few also to wetlands and mountainous terrain. Their activity patterns range from nocturnal and crepuscular to diurnal, depending on their preferred prey species.
Reginald Innes Pocock divided the extant Felidae into three subfamilies: the Pantherinae, the Felinae and the Acinonychinae, differing from each other by the ossification of the hyoid apparatus and by the cutaneous sheaths which protect their claws.
This concept has been revised following developments in molecular biology and techniques for analysis of morphological data. Today, the living Felidae are divided in two subfamilies: the Pantherinae and Felinae, with the Acinonychinae subsumed into the latter. Pantherinae includes five Panthera and two Neofelis species, while Felinae includes the other 34 species in ten genera.
The first cats emerged during the Oligocene about, with the appearance of Proailurus and Pseudaelurus. The latter species complex was ancestral to two main lines of felids: the cats in the extant subfamilies and a group of extinct cats of the subfamily Machairodontinae, which include the saber-toothed cats such as the Smilodon. The "false sabre-toothed cats", the Barbourofelidae and Nimravidae, are not true cats, but are closely related. Together with the Felidae, Viverridae, hyaenas and mongooses, they constitute the Feliformia.

Characteristics

All members of the cat family have the following characteristics in common:
The colour, length and density of their fur is very diverse. Fur colour covers the gamut from white to black, and fur pattern from distinctive small spots, stripes to small blotches and rosettes. Most cat species are born with a spotted fur, except the jaguarundi, Asian golden cat and caracal. The spotted fur of lion and cougar cubs change to a uniform fur during their ontogeny. Those living in cold environments have thick fur with long hair, like the snow leopard and the Pallas's cat. Those living in tropical and hot climate zones have short fur. Several species exhibit melanism with all-black individuals.
In the great majority of cat species, the tail is between a third and a half of the body length, although with some exceptions, like the Lynx species and margay. Cat species vary greatly in body and skull sizes, and weights:
Most cat species have a haploid number of 18 or 19. Central and South American cats have a haploid number of 18, possibly due to the combination of two smaller chromosomes into a larger one.

Evolution

The family Felidae is part of the Feliformia, a suborder that diverged probably about into several families. The Felidae and the Asiatic linsangs are considered a sister group, which split about.
The earliest cats probably appeared about. Proailurus is the oldest known cat that occurred after the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event about ; fossil remains were excavated in France and Mongolia's Hsanda Gol Formation. Fossil occurrences indicate that the Felidae arrived in North America earliest. This is about later than the Ursidae and the Nimravidae, and about 10 million years later than the Canidae.
In the Early Miocene about, Pseudaelurus lived in Africa. Its fossil jaws were also excavated in geological formations of Europe's Vallesian, Asia's Middle Miocene and North America's late Hemingfordian to late Barstovian epochs.
In the Early or Middle Miocene, the sabre-toothed Machairodontinae evolved in Africa and migrated northwards in the Late Miocene. With their large upper canines, they were adapted to prey on large-bodied megaherbivores. Miomachairodus is the oldest known member of this subfamily. Metailurus lived in Africa and Eurasia about. Several Paramachaerodus skeletons were found in Spain. Homotherium appeared in Africa, Eurasia and North America around, and Megantereon about. Smilodon lived in North and South America from about. This subfamily became extinct in the Late Pleistocene.
Results of mitochondrial analysis indicate that the living Felidae species descended from a common ancestor, which originated in Asia in the Late Miocene epoch. They migrated to Africa, Europe and the Americas in the course of at least 10 migration waves during the past ~11 million years. Low sea levels, interglacial and glacial periods facilitated these migrations. Panthera blytheae is the oldest known pantherine cat dated to the late Messinian to early Zanclean ages about. A fossil skull was excavated in 2010 in Zanda County on the Tibetan Plateau. Panthera palaeosinensis from North China probably dates to the Late Miocene or Early Pliocene. The skull of the holotype is similar to that of a lion or leopard. Panthera zdanskyi dates to the Gelasian about. Several fossil skulls and jawbones were excavated in northwestern China. Panthera gombaszoegensis is the earliest known pantherine cat that lived in Europe about.
Living felids fall into eight evolutionary lineages or species clades. Genotyping of nuclear DNA of all 41 felid species revealed that hybridization between species occurred in the course of evolution within the majority of the eight lineages.
Modelling of felid coat pattern transformations revealed that nearly all patterns evolved from small spots.

Classification

Traditionally, five subfamilies have been distinguished within the Felidae based on phenotypical features: the Pantherinae, the Felinae, the Acinonychinae, and the extinct Machairodontinae and Proailurinae.

Living species

The following table shows the living genera within the Felidae, grouped according to the traditional phenotypical classification. Estimated genetic divergence times of the corresponding eight genotypical evolutionary lineages are indicated in million years ago, based on analysis of autosomal, xDNA, yDNA and mtDNA gene segments; and estimates based on analysis of biparental nuclear genomes.
GenusSpeciesIUCN Red List status and distribution
Neofelis Gray, 1867
Clouded leopard
diverged

Vulnerable species|
Neofelis Gray, 1867
Sunda clouded leopard
diverged


Panthera Oken, 1816
; 11.75 to 0.97 Mya		Leopard
diverged


Panthera Oken, 1816
; 11.75 to 0.97 Mya		Tiger
diverged

Endangered species|
Panthera Oken, 1816
; 11.75 to 0.97 Mya		Snow leopard
diverged


Panthera Oken, 1816
; 11.75 to 0.97 Mya		Lion
diverged


Panthera Oken, 1816
; 11.75 to 0.97 Mya		Jaguar
diverged

Near-threatened species|

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of living felids are shown in the following cladogram:

Prehistoric taxa