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Rusty-spotted Cat
The rusty-spotted cat (''Prionailurus rubiginosus'') is one of the cat family's smallest members, of which historical records are known only from India and Sri Lanka. In 2012, it was also recorded in the western Terai of Nepal. Since 2016, the global wild population is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List as it is fragmented and affected by loss and destruction of its prime habitat, deciduous forests. Taxonomy ''Felis rubiginosa'' was the scientific name used by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1831 for a rusty-spotted cat specimen from Pondicherry, India. ''Prionailurus'' was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 as a generic name. ''Prionailurus rubiginosus phillipsi'' was proposed by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1939 who described a specimen from Central Province, Sri Lanka and subordinated both to the genus ''Prionailurus''. Phylogeny Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear DNA in tissue samples from all Felidae species revealed that the evolutionary radiation of the F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (16 December 1805 – 10 November 1861) was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' (ethology). Biography He was born in Paris, the son of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. In his earlier years he showed an aptitude for mathematics, but eventually he devoted himself to the study of natural history and of medicine, and in 1824 he was appointed assistant naturalist to his father. In 1829 he delivered for his father the second part of a course of lectures on ornithology, and during the following three years he taught zoology at the ''Athénée'', and teratology at the ''École pratique''. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1833, was in 1837 appointed to act as deputy for his father at the faculty of sciences in Paris. During the following year he was sent to Bordeaux to organize a similar faculty there. He became successively; inspector of the aca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolutionary Radiation
An evolutionary radiation is an increase in taxonomic diversity that is caused by elevated rates of speciation, that may or may not be associated with an increase in morphological disparity. Radiations may affect one clade or many, and be rapid or gradual; where they are rapid, and driven by a single lineage's adaptation to their environment, they are termed adaptive radiations. Examples Perhaps the most familiar example of an evolutionary radiation is that of placental mammals immediately after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, about 66 million years ago. At that time, the placental mammals were mostly small, insect-eating animals similar in size and shape to modern shrews. By the Eocene (58–37 million years ago), they had evolved into such diverse forms as bats, whales, and horses. Other familiar radiations include the Avalon Explosion, the Cambrian Explosion, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, the Carboniferous-Earliest Perm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pantherinae
Pantherinae is a subfamily within the family Felidae; it was named and first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917 as only including the ''Panthera'' species. The Pantherinae genetically diverged from a common ancestor between and . Characteristics Pantherinae species are characterised by an imperfectly ossified hyoid bone with elastic tendons that enable their larynx to be mobile. They have a flat rhinarium that only barely reaches the dorsal side of the nose. The area between the nostrils is narrow, and not extended sidewards as in the Felinae. The ''Panthera'' species have a single, rounded, vocal fold with a thick mucosal lining, a large vocalis muscle, and a large cricothyroid muscle with long and narrow membranes. A vocal fold that is longer than enables all but the snow leopard among them to roar, as it has shorter vocal folds of that provide a lower resistance to airflow; this distinction was one reason it was proposed to be retained in the genus ''Uncia''. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pallas's Cat
The Pallas's cat (''Otocolobus manul'', also known as the manul, is a small wild cat with long and dense light grey fur. Its rounded ears are set low on the sides of the head. Its head-and-body length ranges from with a long bushy tail. It is well camouflaged and adapted to the cold continental climate in its native range, which receives little rainfall and experiences a wide range of temperatures. The Pallas's cat's pupils are rounded, a unique feature among the Felinae. The Pallas's cat was first described in 1776 by Peter Simon Pallas, who observed it in the vicinity of Lake Baikal. In the early 19th century, it was reported to occur in Tibet, and in the Transcaspian Region in the early 20th century. To date, it has been recorded across a large areal extent, albeit in widely spaced sites in the Caucasus, Iranian Plateau, Hindu Kush, parts of the Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, Altai-Sayan region and South Siberian Mountains. It inhabits rocky montane grasslands and shrublands, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felinae
The Felinae are a subfamily of the family Felidae. This subfamily comprises the small cats having a bony hyoid, because of which they are able to purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily: as comprising only the living conical-toothed cat genera with two tribes, the Felini and Pantherini; thus excluding all fossil cat species. Characteristics The members of the Felinae have retractile claws that are protected by at least one cutaneous lobe. Their larynx is kept close to the base of the skull by an ossified hyoid. They can purr owing to the vocal folds being shorter than . The cheetah ''Acinonyx'' does not have cutaneous sheaths for guarding claws. Taxonomy The term 'Felini' was first used in 1817 by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim, at the time for all the cat species that had been proposed as belonging to the genus ''Felis''. In 1917, Reginald Innes Pocock also subordinated the following genera to the Felinae that had been propo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felidae
Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the domestic cat (''Felis catus''). Felidae species exhibit the most diverse fur pattern of all terrestrial carnivores. Cats have retractile claws, slender muscular bodies and strong flexible forelimbs. Their teeth and facial muscles allow for a powerful bite. They are all obligate carnivores, and most are solitary predators ambushing or stalking their prey. Wild cats occur in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some wild cat species are adapted to forest habitats, some to arid environments, and a few also to wetlands and mountainous terrain. Their activity patterns range from nocturnal and crepuscular to diurnal, depending on their preferred prey species. Reginald Innes Pocock divided the extant Felidae into three subfamilies: the P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to descendants, nor does it show how much they have changed, so many differing evolutionary trees can be consistent with the same cladogram. A cladogram uses lines that branch off in different directions ending at a clade, a group of organisms with a last common ancestor. There are many shapes of cladograms but they all have lines that branch off from other lines. The lines can be traced back to where they branch off. These branching off points represent a hypothetical ancestor (not an actual entity) which can be inferred to exhibit the traits shared among the terminal taxa above it. This hypothetical ancestor might then provide clues about the order of evolution of various features, adaptation, and other evolutionary narratives about ance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fishing Cat
The fishing cat (''Prionailurus viverrinus'') is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declined severely over the last decade. The fishing cat lives foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps, and mangroves. The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal. Taxonomy ''Felis viverrinus'' was proposed by Edward Turner Bennett in 1833 who described a fishing cat skin from India. '' Prionailurus'' was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858 as generic name for spotted wild cats native to Asia. ''Felis viverrinus rhizophoreus'' was proposed by Henri Jacob Victor Sody in 1936 who described a specimen from the north coast of West Java that had a slightly shorter skull than fishing cat specimens from Thailand. There is evidence that the nominate taxon and the Javan fishing cat are distinguish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flat-headed Cat
The flat-headed cat (''Prionailurus planiceps'') is a small wild cat native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra. It is an Endangered species, because the wild population probably comprises fewer than 2,500 mature individuals, with small subpopulations of no more than 250 adults. The population inhabits foremost wetlands, which are being destroyed and converted. For these reasons, it is listed on the IUCN Red List since 2008. It was initially placed in the genus ''Felis'', but is now considered one of the five species in ''Prionailurus''. Flat-headed cats are very rare in captivity, with seven individuals kept in Batu Secret Zoo, Songkhla Zoo, and Taiping Zoo, as recorded by Species360. Characteristics The flat-headed cat is distinguished at once by the extreme depression of the skull, which extends along the nose to the extremity of the muzzle, the sides of which are laterally distended. The general habit of body is slender, and the extremities are delicate and l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lineage (genetic)
A genetic lineage, also known as genetic pedigree, is a series of mutations which connect an ancestral genetic type (allele, haplotype, or haplogroup) to derivative type. In cases where the genetic tree is very bushy the order of mutations in the lineage is mostly known, examples are the order of mutations between E1b1b and E1b1b1a1a for the human Y-chromosomesal L0 or L1 nodes. A genetic lineage can be contrasted with an evolutionary lineage in that a genetic lineage applies to a locus. An example of the difference is that an ancient African ape evolved into the gorilla-chimpanzee-human ancestor, which further evolved into the chimpanzee-human ancestor and then to humans. While most human lineages coalesce with chimpanzee lineages, which then converge with gorilla lineages, a few human lineages coalesce with gorilla lineages and then converge with chimpanzee lineages (or chimpanzee lineages that coalesce with gorilla lineages and then converge with human lineages). This occurs b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genetic Divergence
Genetic divergence is the process in which two or more populations of an ancestral species accumulate independent genetic changes (mutations) through time, often leading to reproductive isolation and continued mutation even after the populations have become Reproductive isolation, reproductively isolated for some period of time, as there isn’t genetic exchange anymore. In some cases, subpopulations living in ecologically distinct peripheral environments can exhibit genetic divergence from the remainder of a population, especially where the range of a population is very large (see parapatric speciation). The genetic differences among divergent populations can involve silent mutations (that have no effect on the phenotype) or give rise to significant Morphology (biology), morphological and/or physiology, physiological changes. Genetic divergence will always accompany reproductive isolation, either due to novel adaptations via selection and/or due to genetic drift, and is the principal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Ancestor
Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all life on Earth, according to modern evolutionary biology. Common descent is an effect of speciation, in which multiple species derive from a single ancestral population. The more recent the ancestral population two species have in common, the more closely are they related. The most recent common ancestor of all currently living organisms is the last universal ancestor, which lived about 3.9 billion years ago. The two earliest pieces of evidence for life on Earth are graphite found to be biogenic in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks discovered in western Greenland and microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia. All currently living organisms on Earth shar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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