Leopardus emiliae (Thomas, 1914)

Bezerra, Alexandra Maria Ramos & Bordallo, Samanta Uchôa, 2018, Neotropical felid specimens at the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi: species, distribution, and morphometric data, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 58, pp. 1-19 : 4

Leopardus emiliae (Thomas, 1914)

Common names: tigrina, oncillla, little spotted cat (English);gato-do-mato-pequeno (Brazilian Portuguese).

Localities: BRAZIL, 3 specimens ( Fig. 3 ): Ceará: Ipú: MPEG 588 (male skin). Maranhão: Grajaú, Boa LembranÇa, Sítio Novo, margem direita de Grajaú: MPEG 22685 (male, skin). Pará: Óbidos: MPEG 5618 (unknown sex, skull).

Comments:

1) MPEG 588 and MEPG 22685 have removed skin samples and MPEG 5618 muscle sample for molecular analysis by C.C. Sartor, in May 2017, for her doctoral dissertation developed at University Federal of Rio Grande do Sul ;

2) Nascimento & Feijó (2017) referred MPEG 588 as topotype of Felis emiliae based on Thomas (1914);

3) Recently recognized as full species, L. emiliae was junior synonym of L. tigrinus and is endemic of Brazil, with populations known from north, at right bank of Amazon River, throughout northeastern and central portion of this country ( Nascimento & Feijó, 2017). Leopardus tigrinus (sensu lato) is considered as Endangered in Brazil (DOU,2014), globally Vulnerable due current trending of decreasing population ( IUCN, 2017), and included in CITES Appendix I (CITES,2017), altogether before recognizing of three full species in tigrinus species group ( L. emiliae , L. guttulus , and L. tigrinus ), and respective restricted geographic distribution for each taxon ( Nascimento & Feijó, 2017). It is probable that L. emiliae and the other two species be included in a higher endangered category in the next endangered species list revisions.

Figures

Figure3.LocalitiesofLeopardusemiliaeattheinMuseuParaenseEmilioGoeldi.