The Corsican wildcat is an isolated

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

(''Felis catus'') population that used to be considered a subspecies of the

African wildcat The African wildcat (''Felis lybica'') is a small wildcat species native to Africa, West and Central Asia up to Rajasthan in India and Xinjiang in China. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in 2022. In Cyprus, an African wil ...

(''Felis lybica''), but is now thought to have been introduced to Corsica around the beginning of the first millennium. In 2019, several newspapers reported on the supposed discovery of the Corsican wildcat as a previously unknown cat species, calling it "cat-fox" ( co, ghjattu-volpe). As of 2021, a description for this animal as a supposed species is being drafted.

Taxonomy

The scientific name ''Felis reyi'' was proposed by

Louis Lavauden Louis Lavauden (19 June 1881, in Grenoble – 1 September 1935, in Anjou, Isère) was a French zoologist and forester. He was a student at the Institut agronomique et de l'Ecole forestière in Nancy, afterwards conducting zoological studi ...

in 1929 who described a skin and a skull of a female cat specimen from

Biguglia Biguglia () is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It is near the town of Bastia. Population Sport Biguglia is the home of Championnat de France Amateurs 2 club, ÉF Bastia. See also * Communes ...

and considered it a new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

. It was reclassified as a subspecies of the African wildcat by Reginald Innes Pocock who reviewed ''

Felis ''Felis'' is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest ''Felis'' species is the black-footed cat with a h ...

'' skins in the collection of the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

. Following zooarchaeologic research in Corsica, it was regarded to have been introduced to the island during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, likely originating from domestic cat stock. As of 2017, it is no longer considered a valid species or subspecies. However, in January 2023, a scientific paper was published with results of genetic testing on Corsican wildcats, finding they were genetically distinct from both the European wildcat and domestic cat species.

Description

The Corsican wildcat was described as being a darker than the African wildcat with a shorter tail and dark brown on the backs of the ears.

References

{{feline-stub Wildcats Mammals described in 1929 Endemic fauna of Corsica