Caracal Gray 1843

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Carnivora, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 532-628 : 533

Caracal Gray 1843

Caracal Gray 1843 , List Specimens Mamm. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 46.

Type Species: Caracal melanotis Gray 1843

Synonyms: Caracala Gray 1843 ; Urolynchus Severtzov 1858 .

Species and subspecies: 1 species with 8 subspecies:

Species Caracal caracal (Schreber 1776)

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. caracal Schreber 1776

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. algira Wagner 1841

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. damarensis Roberts 1926

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. limpopoensis Roberts 1926

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. lucani Rochebrune 1885

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. nubica J. B. Fischer 1829

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. poecilotis Thomas and Hinton 1921

Subspecies Caracal caracal subsp. schmitzi Matschie 1912

Discussion: Recent studies ( Groves, 1982 a; Král and Zima, 1980) emphasized the closeness of this taxon to Felis and the separation of it from Lynx (sensu Simpson, 1945) . Weigel (1961), Hemmer (1978), and Werdelin (1981) placed caracal Schreber in the monotypic Caracal followed here (placed in Urolynchus by Kratochvíl, 1982 c). Bininda-Emonds et al. (1999) and Mattern and McLennan (2000) considered Caracal the sister taxon to Leptailurus serval . However Mattern and McLennan then considered this pair related to Profelis aurata whereas Bininda-Emonds et al. (1999) placed it with more typical Felis . Johnson and O'Brien (1997) considered C. caracal and P. aurata to be sister groups. McKenna and Bell (1997) placed Caracal in Felis (Lynx) .