- Two Latin American tiger cat species were previously recognized by science in 2013: the southern tiger cat (Leopardus guttulus) and northern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus). Both are considered vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List.
- But a paper published in January 2024 described a third, new tiger cat species; Leopardus pardinoides. Dubbed the clouded tiger cat, the species is found in high-altitude cloud forests in Central and South America. This taxonomic reshuffling has major conservation implications for the group as a whole, said experts.
- In addition to proposing the new species, the authors reassessed the tiger cats’ distribution and current status. New data indicate that the small wildcats are not present in areas where they were previously assumed to be, which has slashed their remaining habitat considerably.
- Experts warn that these little-known wildcat species have long flown under the conservation radar. Urgent action is required to protect them in the long term against a litany of threats, including habitat loss, persecution and disease transmission from domestic animals.
Many of the world’s small wildcats are enigmatic, elusive and roam beyond the media spotlight enjoyed by their big cat cousins. But you could be forgiven for never having heard of Latin America’s cloud forest-dwelling small cat Leopardus pardinoides, as researchers only recently described it as a new species. A team comprised of dozens of researchers and conservationists presented the finding in a paper published in January this year in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
Tiger cats are diminutive felids, about the size of a house cat, that range across the Americas from Costa Rica to Bolivia and Argentina. Until this year, only two tiger cat species were officially recognized: the southern tiger cat (Leopardus gutullus), found in the Atlantic Forest, and the northern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus), with a presumed massive range stretching from Brazil through Colombia, north to Costa Rica and across the Andes into Bolivia and Peru.
But a change is in the wind with the description of L. pardinoides. Researchers assessed characteristics of all the tiger cats known, including their morphology and ecology, and concluded that populations dwelling in the Andes and cloud forests of countries such as Colombia, Peru and Costa Rica are a separate species from the savanna-dwelling L. tigrinus. That designation follows a paper published in late 2023 that analyzed the genetics of tiger cats and reached a similar conclusion that the clouded tiger cat is a distinct species.
Colombia and Costa Rica are key locations for the conservation of Leopardus pardinoides. But preservation of Colombia’s clouded tiger cats faces difficult hurdles, including the urgent need for more research and protection conducted within key areas that lie inside conflict zones, say researchers. Image courtesy of Camilo Botero.
Raising a conservation alarm
For Andrew Kitchener,