Felidae Fischer de Waldheim 1817

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 532-628 : 532

Felidae Fischer de Waldheim 1817

Felidae Fischer de Waldheim 1817 , Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscow, 5: 372.

Synonyms: Euailuroida Kretzoi 1929 ; Felinoidea Brunet 1979 ; Feloidae Hay 1930 ; Feloidea Simpson 1931 ; Lyncina Gray 1867 .

Genera: 14 genera with 40 species in 2 subfamilies:

Subfamily Felinae Fischer de Waldheim 1817

Genus Acinonyx Brookes 1828 (1 species with 6 subspecies)

Genus Caracal Gray 1843 (1 species with 8 subspecies)

Genus Catopuma Severtzov 1858 (2 species with 3 subspecies)

Genus Felis Linnaeus 1758 (7 species with 43 subspecies)

Genus Leopardus Gray 1842 (9 species with 41 subspecies)

Genus Leptailurus Severtzov 1858 (1 species with 18 subspecies)

Genus Lynx Kerr 1792 (4 species with 20 subspecies)

Genus Pardofelis Severtzov 1858 (1 species with 2 subspecies)

Genus Prionailurus Severtzov 1858 (5 species with 13 subspecies)

Genus Profelis Severtzov 1858 (1 species with 2 subspecies)

Genus Puma Jardine 1834 (2 species with 14 subspecies)

Subfamily Pantherinae Pocock 1917

Genus Neofelis Gray 1867 (1 species with 4 subspecies)

Genus Panthera Oken 1816 (4 species with 36 subspecies)

Genus Uncia Gray 1854 (1 species)

Discussion: Revised by Pocock (1917 a, b, 1951), Weigel (1961), de Beaumont (1964), Hemmer (1978), Král and Zima (1980), Kratochvíl (1982 c), Groves (1982 a), Collier and O'Brien (1985), Salles (1992), Johnson and O'Brien (1997), McKenna and Bell (1997), Bininda-Emonds et al. (1999), and Mattern and McLennan (2000). Some ( Honacki et al., 1982; McKenna and Bell, 1997; Van Gelder, 1977 b) have followed Simpson (1945) and placed the majority of taxa in Felis , except for the large cats (i.e., Panthera and Acinonyx ); however, this is not well supported by primary systematic studies and only poorly represents relationships below the family level. Most studies agree on the clear separation of the "big cats" (i.e., Panthera , Neofelis , Uncia ) from the remainder. However, within the remaining group, there does not appear to be a clear consensus. Even the cheetah’s ( Acinonyx ) traditional position has been called into question ( Bininda-Emonds et al., 1999; Mattern and McLennan, 2000). For these reasons, only two subfamilies of cats are recognized, and taxa are listed alphabetically within each subfamily. Synonyms allocated according to McKenna and Bell (1997) and Kitchener (pers. comm.). Species distributions were suplemented by Kristin Nowell, IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group (pers. comm.). For an excellent review of the biology of the felids, see Sunquist and Sunquist (2002).