Leopardus colocolo
| Colocolo | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Leopardus |
| Species: | L. colocolo |
| Binomial name | |
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Leopardus colocolo (Molina, 1782) |
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| Combined range of colocolo, Pampas cat, and Pantanal cat | |
| Synonyms | |
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Oncifelis colocolo |
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Oncifelis colocolo
Lynchailurus colocolo
The colocolo (Leopardus colocolo) is a small spotted and striped cat native to the west Andean slope in central and northern Chile. Until recently, it included the more widespread Pampas cat (L. pajeros) and Pantanal cat (L. braccatus), and some maintain these as subspecies of the colocolo. Confusingly, when these are treated as subspecies of the colocolo, the "combined" species is sometimes referred to as the Pampas cat.
Like most other small cats, the colocolo was formerly included in the genus Felis, but together with Geoffroy's cat and the kodkod, some have placed it in Oncifelis instead. Today, all major authorities place it in Leopardus.
As traditionally defined, the colocolo occurs in the widest range of habitats of any small South American felid. This, combined with distinct differences in pelage colour/pattern and cranial measurements, was the basis for splitting the Pantanal cat and Pampas cat from the colocolo. Based on genetic divergence, the splits within the colocolo group are estimated to have occurred about 1.7 million years ago (Mya). This divergence was lower than that found within Geoffroy's cat (about 2 Mya) or the oncilla (about 3.7 Mya; this very high divergence –far higher than other species in the genus– has resulted in some suggesting more than one species is involved in the oncilla). Furthermore, the distribution pattern within the colocolo group based on genetics did not completely match that based on pelage colour/pattern and cranial measurements, and supported some of the traditional subspecific division rather than species division. While the population in northern Chile has been placed in L. colocolo based on cranial measurements, genetics associate it with Pampas cats from Bolivia, and while the population in western Argentina has been placed in the Pampas cat based on pelage colour/pattern and cranial measurements, genetics associate it with the colocolo. More recent genetic analysis also supports maintaining the Pantanal and Pampas cats as subspecies of the colocolo.
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Wikipedia