Garlepp's pampas cat (''Leopardus colocola garleppi''), also called the northern pampas cat, is a subspecies of the

pampas cat The Pampas cat (''Leopardus colocola'') is a small wild cat native to South America. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List as habitat conversion and destruction may cause the population to decline in the future. It is named aft ...

. It has more recently been classified as a full species (''Leopardus garleppi'') within a pampas cat

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. Garlepp's pampas cat is native to the central-western mountainous area of South America.

Characteristics

''Leopardus garleppi'' is a small wild cat with a brownish-grey forehead, orange speckles on the nape and crown, a dark brownish-grey stripe on the spine with some orange hairs sprinkled in, pale brownish-grey or yellowish-brown background color on the body with obvious rosettes of reddish-brown with an orangish-brown interior, and reddish-brown rings on the tail.

Distribution and habitat

Garlepp's pampas cat lives in the

Andes Mountains The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

from Colombia to northwestern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and northern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

References

{{Feline-stub Leopardus Felids of South America Mammals described in 1912