A New Species of Jungle Cat Was Hiding in Plain Sight

It took 35 years between the discovery of the last mammalian carnivore in the Americas and the discovery of the olinguito, a small, raccoon-like animal discovered in Ecuador in August. It only took three months for scientists to find another one.

Scientists in Brazil have discovered that the Brazilian tigrina, a housecat-sized predator that lives throughout much of the country, can actually be split into two distinct species. The discovery maybe isn’t quite as exciting as the olinguito, which was unknown to much of the world before Smithsonian researchers described it earlier this year, but molecular data shows that the northeastern population of tigrina and the southern population of tigrina are completely separate and do not interbreed, suggesting they are completely different species.

Eduardo Eizirik, lead author of the paper, published Wednesday in Current Biology, says that the discovery should lead scientists to spend more time studying the northern tigrina, of which very little is known.

“Our study highlights the need for urgent attention focused on the Brazilian northeastern tigrinas, which are virtually unknown with respect to most aspects of their biology,” he said.

Eizirik’s team thinks that the two species of tigrina evolved differently due to ancient interbreeding between closely related cats, the pampas cat and Geoffroy’s cat. All four species continue to coexist but all are believed to be threatened. According to the paper, that interbreeding eventually led to two distinct populations of tigrina that “show no evidence of ongoing gene flow between them, leading [researchers] to support their formal recognition as distinct species. The northern population will keep the Leopardus tigrinus name, while the southern population will be known as Leopardus guttulus.

Besides their genetics, the two species of cat seem to live in different habitats: The northern cat often shows up in savannas and drier areas, while the southern species exists mainly in dense rain forests along the Atlantic.

Like many recent discoveries involving rare mammals, researchers have relied on camera traps to photograph and study the animals.

“All four species are threatened, and we need to understand as much as possible regarding their genetics, ecology, and evolution to be able to design adequate conservation strategies on their behalf,” Elzirik said.