Researchers have identified a new wild cat species, the size of a house cat, in Brazil that is part of the Leopardus genus, BBC News reported.
The researchers identified and differentiated the Leopardus tigrinus by using molecular markers. The DNA testing revealed two distinct tigrinus populations to not interbreed and to also be evolutionarily different.
Lead by Dr. Eduardo Eizirik, from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, the researchers published their work in the journal Current Biology.
"We used several different types of molecular markers to investigate the evolutionary history of these species," said. Dr. Eizirik. "These [molecular markers] evolve at different rates, which helps in the sense that they provide information on different time frames."
The Leopardus genus is known to have at least seven species and is most common in South and Central America, originating sometime 2.5 million to 3.5 million years ago.
By using the markers and DNA testing, the researchers were able to track the tigrinus evolutionary history and patterns of interbreeding or hybridization between species and populations.
The population of tigrinus from southern Brazil was interbreeding with other species known to live in that area. However, the same could not be said for the northeastern tigrinus.
"This observation implies that these tigrina populations are not interbreeding, which led us to recognize them as distinct species," said Dr. Eizirik. "This species-level distinction between the tigrina populations we really did not expect to find."
Tatiane Trigo, Dr. Eizirik's colleague from Rio Grande do Sul, said the differences in the two populations can also be due to geological factors. The southern tigrina are living in denser and wetter conditions, whereas the northeastern ones are living in drier savannahs.
"Such distinct habitat associations provide a hint to potentially adaptive differences between these newly recognized species and may have been involved in their initial evolutionary divergence," Trigo said in a press release.
Eizirik said the more that is known on these cats, the more can be done to protect them.
"All four species are threatened, and we need to understand as much as possible regarding their genetics, ecology," he said," and evolution to be able to design adequate conservation strategies on their behalf."
