Visayan leopard cat
| Visayan Leopard Cat | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Subfamily: | Felinae |
| Genus: | Prionailurus |
| Species: | P. javanensis |
| Subspecies: | P. j. sumatranus |
| Trinomial name | |
| Prionailurus javanensis sumatranus (Horsfield, 1821) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The Visayan leopard cat is a Sunda leopard cat (Prionailurus javanensis sumatranus) population in the Philippine Islands of Negros, Cebu and Panay.[2] It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List in 2008 under its former scientific name P. bengalensis rabori as its range is estimated to be less than 20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi).[1]
Taxonomy
Prionailurus bengalensis rabori was proposed in 1997 by Colin Groves on the basis of morphological analysis of a skin and skull. He considered it a leopard cat subspecies.[3]
Results of phylogeographic research show that Sunda leopard cats from Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippine islands are genetically very similar. The Sunda leopard cat probably reached the Philippine islands from Borneo after the eruption of Toba Volcano during the late Pleistocene glaciation.[4] It has therefore been subsumed to P. javanensis sumatranus in 2017.[2]
Characteristics
The fur of the Visayan leopard cat is dark ochre to buffy fawn with large and dark spots. Its skull is a little narrower than of Sumatran leopard cat and Bornean leopard cat.[3]
Distribution and habitat
The Visayan leopard cat occurs on the Philippine islands of Panay and Negros where it inhabits remnant forest fragments. On Cebu, it has also been recorded in sugarcane farms.[1] It is probably locally extinct or close to extinction on the islands of Cebu and Masbate. Panay and Negros islands have lost 90–95 % of their natural habitat.[5]
References
- 1 2 3 Lorica, R. (2008). "Prionailurus bengalensis ssp. rabori". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016-3. International Union for Conservation of Nature.
- 1 2 Kitchener, A. C.; Breitenmoser-Würsten, C.; Eizirik, E.; Gentry, A.; Werdelin, L.; Wilting, A.; Yamaguchi, N.; Abramov, A. V.; Christiansen, P.; Driscoll, C.; Duckworth, J. W.; Johnson, W.; Luo, S.-J.; Meijaard, E.; O’Donoghue, P.; Sanderson, J.; Seymour, K.; Bruford, M.; Groves, C.; Hoffmann, M.; Nowell, K.; Timmons, Z.; Tobe, S. (2017). "A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group" (PDF). Cat News (Special Issue 11).
- 1 2 Groves, C. P. (1997). "Leopard-cats, Prionailurus bengalensis (Carnivora: Felidae) from Indonesia and the Philippines, with the description of two new species". Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde. 62: 330–338.
- ↑ Patel, R.P., Wutke, S., Lenz, D., Mukherjee, S., Ramakrishnan, U., Veron, G., Fickel, J., Wilting, A. and Förster, D.W. (2017). "Genetic structure and phylogeography of the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) inferred from mitochondrial genomes". Journal of Heredity. 108 (4): 349−360.
- ↑ Lorica, M.R.P. & L.R. Heaney (2013). "Survival of a native mammalian carnivore, the leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis Kerr, 1792 (Carnivora: Felidae), in an agricultural landscape on an oceanic Philippine island". Journal of Threatened Taxa. 5 (10): 4451–4460.