''Catopuma'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of the

Felidae Felidae ( ) is the Family (biology), family of mammals in the Order (biology), order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant taxon, extant Felidae species exhibit the gre ...

containing two small cat

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

native to Southeast Asia, the

Asian golden cat The Asian golden cat (''Catopuma temminckii'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to the northeastern Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and China. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2025, and is threatened by poaching ...

(''C. temminckii'') and the bay cat (''C. badia''). Both have similar pelage, with solid reddish brown coloration on their backs and darker markings on the head. They also exhibit colour morphs ranging from various browns to gray to black. The Asian golden cat occurs from

northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

, and the bay cat lives only on

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. Both inhabit forested areas. The closest living relative of ''Catopuma'' is the

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small Felidae, wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatene ...

(''Pardofelis marmorata''), from which the common ancestor of ''Catopuma'' genetically diverged around . The Asian golden cat and bay cat diverged from one another approximately , before

separated from the neighboring islands.

Taxonomy

The name ''Catopuma'' was proposed by

Nikolai Severtzov Nikolai Alekseyevich Severtsov (; 5 November 1827 – 7 February 1885) was a Russian explorer and naturalist. He was among the early promoters of Darwinian ideas in Russia. Life and work Severtsov was born in Khvoshchevatovo, Zemlyansky dis ...

in 1858 with ''Felis moormensis'' as

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, which was described by

Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer natural history, naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident (title), Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals fr ...

References

Felines Carnivoran genera Taxa named by Nikolai Severtzov {{cat-stub fr:Catopuma