(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Friday Cat Blogging + New Cat Species Reported [1] ['Bill In Portland Maine', 'Thom Hartmann', 'Lefty Coaster', 'Gary Turner'] Date: 2026-09-18 Long ago in the Before Times, the late Kevin Drum blogging at Mother Jones made a practice of posting a picture of one or more of the Drum family cats on Fridays, IIRC. It inspired other bloggers to do so. I’m not sure if the custom has persisted – there are so many cats all over the Internet all the time now. Regardless, the picture above is of one the two feline overlords currently living at my home. His name is Rocky; he and his sister Rainy are about 4 years old. Their feral mother and the four members of the litter our two came from were rescued by a family member, raised here, and all of them have found good homes. So, happy Friday from Rocky! But enough about him – you want to hear about the new cat species right? The species, called a tilcayo, is smaller than a house cat and lives in the cloud forests of the Andes Mountains in Bolivia. A three-pound wildcat with leopardlike spots from Bolivia who once lived briefly as a house pet isn’t just adorable. He is also, scientists say, the standard-bearer for the first new feline species discovered in a century. The cat himself is named Tigrino, and his species is called tilcayo. Several other cat species have gained official recognition after previously being considered subspecies. But the tilcayo, found in the cloud forests of the Andes Mountains in Bolivia, is the first brand-new feline species added to the cat family tree since the pampas cat was described in 1923. The diminutive tilcayo, officially Leopardus tilcayo, resembles its closest relatives, the so-called tiger cats, found in Central and South America. After DNA analysis, the scientists whose study was published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology say the species split from its closest relatives 1.4 million years ago. Still, little else is known about the new species, including its behavior and the number of cats in wild. There’s some video at the link and some gorgeous photos. It humanizes how science is done, and shows that casual observations may lead in unexpected directions when people pay attention and ask the right questions. While the news is exciting, it’s also troubling. This species is apparently one of five closely related feline species and there is much that remains to be discovered about them. They are secretive, live in remote habitats that are under threat, may be targeted by illegal pet trading, and it is not known how many there are or how much they may be at risk. Identifying them as distinct species is something that needed molecular biology and analyzing museum specimens to determine. Here’s the summary from Current Biology: Phylogenomics and museomics reveal five distinct species of tiger cats in South America Highlights • First discovery of a novel cat species in over a century: Leopardus tilcayo • Description of a novel cat subspecies: Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo • Phylogenomic resolution of the tiger cat complex, revealing five distinct species • Museomics and novel approaches to assess evolutionary history and genomic diversity Summary The evolutionary history of elusive organisms can be characterized through genomic analyses, which have the power to reveal previously unknown taxa even in groups assumed to be well studied, such as cats. We have analyzed complete genomes of 38 individuals from the Neotropical cat genus Leopardus, including 26 individuals representing multiple evolutionary units of the contentious tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus) species complex. Eight genomes were generated from museum specimens, which allowed the first genetic assessment of the type locality for L. tigrinus in the Guiana Shield. We found that this complex comprises five distinct species, including a novel cat species, discovered in the Bolivian Yungas and described in this study as L. tilcayo. The Peruvian Yungas unit of this complex also represents a distinct taxonomic entity, which we describe here as a novel subspecies, L. tigrinus antisuyo. Our phylogenomic analyses resolve the evolutionary relationships among the tiger cat geographic units, thus stabilizing their recalcitrant taxonomy and enabling adequate conservation assessment of these threatened felids. We also address other aspects of their evolution, including biogeography, past episodes of interspecies admixture, demographic history of each taxonomic unit, and temporal changes in genetic diversity. Altogether, our results clarify the evolutionary history of a complex radiation of wild cats, reveal novel taxa, and serve as a basis for conservation planning on behalf of these elusive wild cats. There’s quite a bit more information in the journal article, including this photo of the newly identified species, and the best estimates of the distribution of the different species. This particular individual is smaller than a common house cat. Illustration from the journal ariticle. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)01110-3 Looking at the rest of the paper (and credit to the NY Times for including the link) gives an idea of just how much work was involved in reaching these conclusions. It’s the kind of effort which is vital to documenting and understanding the complex biology of this planet – which itself is under growing threat even as science itself is under attack. Fingers crossed that these cats can continue to survive and thrive in the wild, now that we know they are out there – and that they won’t be imperiled by greed, habitat destruction, or those who would love them to death. From the NY Times article conclusion: [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/18/800100214/community/friday-cat-blogging/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/