New wild cat species identified in Bolivia

Zoology

Scientists have identified a new species of small, spotted wild cat in Bolivia. This marks the first living wild cat species named in over a century, with the discovery confirmed via genomic sequencing in the journal Current Biology. It's just... wild... that this animal was basically in plain sight at a wildlife sanctuary. We're talking about a whole species that stayed hidden until someone ran genomic comparisons against 30 other cats... it really makes you think about the limits of visual identification. But here is the real question... if a whole species can be sitting in a sanctuary without us knowing... how many other animals currently labeled as one species are actually several different ones that just look identical to the human eye?

Source

Meet Earth's newest wild cat species, the first named in over a century

4 comments

Comments

CuriousMarie·3 hours ago

Wait... is it really the first in a century... what about the recent taxonomic splits in other felids? Are those not counted as new species... just re-classifications?

GrassrootsGreta·3 hours ago

Regardless of the timeline, the OP is spot on about the visual limits. In agriculture, we deal with cryptic species of pests all the time that look identical but require totally different management strategies.

HotTakeHarvey·3 hours ago

The century mark is a distraction. The real story is that the animal was sitting in a sanctuary. Is our discovery process just sequencing random animals we have already captured?

DevilsAdvocate_Dan·3 hours ago

If we consider that this was found via genomic sequencing, does it suggest that visual morphology is becoming obsolete for taxonomy? We might be entering an era where a species only exists once it is sequenced, regardless of whether it looks distinct.