Leopardus tilcayo Lescroart, Nogales-Ascarrunz, Cassatt-Johnstone, Bonilla-Sánchez, Sartor, Angulo, Ramirez, Oliveira, Oliveira, Shapiro, Aliaga-Rossel, Svardal & Eizirik, 2026, sp. nov.
Abstract
Diagnosis and description of Leopardus tilcayo Family Felidae Batsch, 1788; Subfamily Felinae Batsch, 1788; Leopardus Gray, 1842 Leopardus tilcayo sp. nov. Nogales-Ascarrunz, Aliaga-Rossel, Lescroart & Eizirik. The full taxonomic treatment can be consulted in the supplemental information (Data S1) and is registered as Life Science Identifier (LSID) urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: E91EB0AF-416E-4B27-97D2-643BE62DD936. Type material. Holotype: CBF-11990, adult male. Live-captured and held in captivity, genome sequences NCBI SRA accession SRX30196846. Date: 09-2021; collectors: E. Aliaga-Rosel and P. Nogales-Ascarrunz (see Data S1). Type locality. La Paz, Nor Yungas,near Arapata village (1,570 m above sea level [a.s.l.]), Bolivia. Coordinates: ̅ 16.248594, ̅ 67.634691 (WGS84). Etymology. This species is named after the local name ‘‘tilcayo’’ used for this felid, which is widely known in the Bolivian Yungas zone. The name is treated as an unchanged noun in apposition. Vernacular name. We propose ‘‘tilcayo’’ as the English common name, preserving the traditional local designation in recognition of its cultural and regional relevance. Diagnosis. Leopardus tilcayo differs from L. pardinoides by its shorter pelage, lower contrast pattern, more expanded and irregular open rosettes, less bushy tail, and the absence of broad and complete caudal bands (see Data S1). It differs from L. tigrinus by its larger and more irregular flank markings, longer and fuller tail, and irregular caudal blotches. It differs from L. guttulus by its larger, more heterogeneous markings, lower dorsal contrast, and relatively longer tail. L. tilcayo can be distinguished from other Leopardus taxa by a large number of molecular characters. In the nuclear genome, among the 29,288,951 transversion variants, on average 1,392,646 sites differentiate L. tilcayo from L. t. antisuyo and 1,491,301 sites differentiate L. tilcayo from L. pardinoides. For simplicity we provide a list of diagnostic mitochondrial DNA sites (see Data S1). Description. L. tilcayo is a small felid with a head-body length of 425–505 mm and a tail length of 250–265 mm. It has a light brown dorsum, darker along the mid-dorsal ridge and paler toward the limbs. The pelage is characterized by relatively large, irregular, dark brown to black rosettes, mostly open or partially closed, on a light brown to beige background. The rosettes do not coalesce. A detailed description is provided in Data S1.