''Leopardus guttulus'', the southern tiger cat or southern tigrina, is a small wild

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

species native to Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Taxonomy

''Felis guttula'' was the

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

used in 1872 by Reinhold Hensel when he described a tiger cat from the jungles of the

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

in southern Brazil. It was long considered to be a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the oncilla (''Leopardus tigrinus''). It was recognized as a distinct species in 2013. It is closely related to Geoffroy's cat (''L. geoffroyi''), with which it reportedly interbreeds in southern Brazil.

Characteristics

The southern tiger cat has a yellowish-ochre coat, patterned with open black rosettes. It is slightly darker than the oncilla, has a larger rosette pattern, and a slightly shorter tail. However, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between the two species by appearance alone, since more genetic variation tends to occur within each species, than between the two species. An adult southern tiger cat weighs between .

Distribution and habitat

The southern tiger cat occurs from central to southern Brazil in Minas Gerais and Goiás states, in the

Atlantic forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

, eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina below elevations of . The population is roughly estimated to comprise around 6,000 mature individuals. It inhabits dense tropical and subtropical rainforests, deciduous and mixed pine forests, open

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

s, and beach vegetation. At the margins of its range, the southern tiger cat interbreeds with Geoffroy's cat, but it does not appear to interbreed with the oncilla population in northeastern Brazil, which in contrast has a history of interbreeding with the pampas cat ''L. colocolo''. Because of habitat differentiation, interbreeding does not occur between oncilla and southern tiger cat. In contrast, hybridization and

introgression Introgression, also known as introgressive hybridization, in genetics is the transfer of genetic material from one species into the gene pool of another by the repeated backcrossing of an interspecific hybrid with one of its parent species. Intr ...

occurs between southern tiger cat and Geoffroy's cat at their contact zone in southern Brazil. Many southern tiger cats and Geoffrey's cats are thought to be partial hybrids, because of the high level of interbreeding that is occurring.

Behaviour and ecology

The southern tigrina preys mostly on small mammals, birds and lizards. Average prey weighs less than , but also includes larger sized prey up to . The southern tigrina often inhabits the same habitat as the ocelot. In areas with a high ocelot concentration, the southern tigrina populations are smaller, due to competition. When ocelots are scarce, it allows for smaller cat species, such as the southern tigrina, to have better opportunities for shelters, food, and territory, which therefore allows for a larger population size and density of southern tigrina. This phenomenon is called the ocelot effect. In 2015, two juvenile southern tigrinas were recorded for the first time in the Atlantic forest while learning hunting skills and capturing a cavy. The mother plays an important role in teaching her cubs how to hunt and survive in the wild.

Threats

During the fur trade, the southern tiger cat was heavily exploited. Today, the biggest threats to the southern tiger cat include habitat loss and deforestation, hunting by local people, road kills, diseases spread from domestic dogs, and the use of rodent poisoning.

Conservation

The southern tiger cat occurs in protected areas, but probably at low densities. Currently, a push is on to better understand the ecology, evolution, and genetics of the southern tiger cat to orchestrate a more effective conservation strategy for the species. In addition, further research is being conducted to better understand the special differences between oncilla and southern tiger cat. Hunting of this species is banned in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

Evolution

A demographic expansion following the

last glacial maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eur ...

(20,000 years ago) is thought to have led to the

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...

of the southern tiger cat.

References

External links

IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group: ''Leopardus guttulus''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q16590235 Felids of South America Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Brazil Mammals of Paraguay Mammals described in 1872 guttulus