Catopuma
Genus of carnivores
Catopuma is a genus of the Felidae containing two small cat species native to Southeast Asia, the Asian golden cat (C. temminckii) and the bay cat (C. badia). Both cats have similar pelage, with solid reddish brown coloration on their backs and darker markings on the head. They also exhibit colour morphs ranging from various browns to gray to black. The Asian golden cat occurs from northeast India to Sumatra, and the bay cat lives only on Borneo. Both inhabit forested areas.
The closest living relative of Catopuma is the marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), from which the common ancestor of Catopuma genetically diverged around 9.4 million years ago. The Asian golden cat and bay cat diverged from one another approximately 3.16 million years ago, before Borneo separated from the neighboring islands.
01Taxonomy
The name Catopuma was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858. The type species, Felis moormensis, had been described earlier by Brian Houghton Hodgson.
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian golden cat | Catopuma temminckii (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) Two subspecies
|
Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and southeast Asia |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
VU |
| Bay cat | Catopuma badia (Gray, 1874) |
island of Borneo |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
EN |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Catopuma”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Catopuma distribution.png by PresN, CC BY-SA 3.0
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