A new species of wildcat, Leopardus tilcayo, lives in the Yungas, the forested Andean slopes near La Paz, Bolivia. It is about 45 centimeters long, a little smaller than a house cat, with round ears and spotted fur.
Its scientific name comes from "tilcayo," the name local people use for the animal, according to AFP.
Bolivian biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz told AFP it is an exceptional event, because no new wildcat species had been described in 100 years. The last was the Uruguayan pampas cat, in 1923. She added that the cat has so far been found only in Bolivia.
How it was identified
The research began in 2021. The team sequenced the full genomes of two living animals and compared them with museum specimens and the appearance of related cats.
The paper, published in Current Biology with Jonas Lescroart as first author, is titled "Phylogenomics and museomics reveal five distinct species of tiger cats in South America." As the title says, it concludes that five separate tiger cat species live on the continent.
Only two known animals
So far, scientists know of just two individuals. A male lives in an animal shelter in the Yungas, and a female was rescued and released back into the wild.
The species is currently classed as vulnerable. With so few animals known, the authors warn it may be far more threatened than that label suggests.
