First new cat species in about 100 years reportedly described
A post sharing a Scientific American article says sequencing of 38 Leopardus genomes confirmed the find, with the cat’s lineage splitting roughly 1.4 million years ago.
TLDR
A post sharing a Scientific American article says Bolivian biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz first encountered the cat at a wildlife sanctuary near La Paz in 2016, when its markings looked unusual for a tiger cat. The post says she and a team in Brazil and Belgium sequenced 38 Leopardus genomes to confirm the new species. It describes the cat as about 46 centimeters long and weighing 1.4 kilograms, and notes that much remains unknown.
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