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New Studies on Morphometric, Phylogeography, Population Genetics, Ecology and Conservation...
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New Studies on Morphometric, Phylogeography, Population Genetics, Ecology and Conservation of Felidae Species

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Mammals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 620

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Manuel Ruiz-Garcia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Molecular Population Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cra 7A No 43-82, Bogotá, Colombia
Interests: chromosomes; evolution; genomics; mammals; molecular ecology; molecular markers; phylogenetics; phylogeography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Felines have always attracted humans due to their esthetics and their incredible abilities as predators. Many of the large cat species are essential in food chains, being emblematic and paradigmatic species for the public and essential for the functioning of ecosystems. Many species of felines are also vulnerable or in danger of extinction due to habitat fragmentation or retailing by humans when they prey on their domestic animals. In order to conserve the different species of felines, we must have precise and detailed knowledge of their morphology, morphometrics, genetics, paleontology, taxonomy and ecology of all the cat species in the different continents where they live (North, Central and South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia). In fact, in the last two decades new species or taxa of felines have been reported in South America and Asia using molecular genetics and morphometric studies. For all these reasons, we are pleased to invite you to this new Special Issue dedicated to felines in Animals. This Special Issue aims to publish whatever new result (original research articles) or reviews with new perspectives on whatever topic related to morphology, morphometrics, molecular evolution, chromosome evolution, phylogeography, phylogenetics, taxonomy, ecology and conservation of whatever species of wild cat. We look forward to receiving your contributions, because they will increase the biological knowledge of these extraordinary and amazing creatures, which will allow for the design of more effective conservation strategies.

Dr. Manuel Ruiz-Garcia
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • felines
  • wild cats
  • morphometrics
  • molecular population genetics
  • phylogeography
  • paleontology
  • taxonomy
  • new taxa
  • ecology
  • conservation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

45 pages, 2961 KiB  
Article
The Nariño Cat, the Tigrinas and Their Problematic Systematics and Phylogeography: The Real Story
by Manuel Ruiz-García, Javier Vega, Myreya Pinedo-Castro and Joseph Mark Shostell
Animals 2025, 15(13), 1891; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15131891 - 26 Jun 2025
Viewed by 514
Abstract
The systematics and phylogeny of the most speciose genus (Leopardus) of the felidae have historically been contentious and problematic. These issues have been compounded with the recent advancement of genetic techniques that make it possible to detect events such as incomplete [...] Read more.
The systematics and phylogeny of the most speciose genus (Leopardus) of the felidae have historically been contentious and problematic. These issues have been compounded with the recent advancement of genetic techniques that make it possible to detect events such as incomplete lineage sorting (ILS), punctual historical ancestral introgression (PHAI), and repetitive introgression or recent hybridization (RI-RH). Each of these events have noteworthily affected the Leopardus genus. One Leopardus taxon (Leopardus tigrinus, herein called tigrina) has been especially complex from a phylogenetic point of view. In the last decade, one new species has been reported (L. guttulus) and two other new species likely exist within the tigrinas (L. emiliae and L. pardinoides). However, the most surprising find was the discovery of a new and not previously reported tigrina, the Nariño cat, from the southern Andean region of Colombia (2023). Later that same year, a new paper criticized the discovery. In response to that criticism, herein, we provide new molecular genetics results of the Nariño cat as well as new insights into the molecular phylogeny of the tigrinas inside the Leopardus genus: (1) In this new work, we analyzed the mtND5 gene of Nariño cat samples collected over four years (2001, 2007, 2017, 2023) as well as analyzed mitogenomes of Nariño cat samples collected in three different years (2001, 2017, 2023). The temporal Nariño cat samples (2001, 2007, 2017, 2023) refer to samples taken from a single specimen across different years. Based on these analyses, data from 2001 and 2007 represent the most reliable information. In contrast, samples from 2017 and 2023 may be contaminated with DNA from the Pampas cat and tigrina, respectively. (2) On the other hand, based on sequencing the mtND5 gene of 164 specimens of Leopardus, northern Andean and Central American tigrinas (37 specimens) are divided into at least six different groups (without counting the Nariño cat). Based on our analysis of sequenced mitogenomes of 102 specimens (including 34 northern Andean and Central American tigrinas) of the Leopardus genus, there are at least eight different groups of tigrinas (without counting the Nariño cat). Henceforth, there are strong datasets which support the existence of multiple lineages within the presumed “a priori” northern Andean tigrina and thus much of the genetic diversity of this wild cat has gone unnoticed. There are a series of potential taxa that have gone unnoticed due to a lack of sampling of this polyphyletic Andean feline. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Studies on Morphometric, Phylogeography, Population Genetics, Ecology and Conservation of Felidae Species)
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