Leopardus tilcayo: New feline species discovered in Bolivia

An international team of scientists has discovered a new species of wild feline, named Leopardus tilcayo, in the Yungas region of Bolivia. This marks the first formal description of a new extant feline species in over a century.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology and led by Professor Eduardo Eizirik of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), also identified a new subspecies in the Peruvian Yungas named Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo. Despite their geographic proximity, genomic analysis revealed that these two animals are not closely related, highlighting a complex evolutionary tree among South American wild cats.

Researchers determined that the group commonly known as “tiger cats” actually consists of five distinct species rather than one. The study utilized “museomics,” sequencing the complete genomes of 38 individuals, including historical museum specimens, to identify these cryptic species—animals that appear visually similar but possess distinct genetic identities.