TESTING THE VALIDITY OF THE FOSSIL FELID SPECIES: FELIS AMNICOLA

The small North American fossil cat Felis amnicola was erected as a species in 1976 as a possible relative of several small extant cats from the Americas. The type fossils had originally been identified as belonging to the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi). When the species was named it was described as having dental characteristics similar to the margay (Felis wiedii) and tiger cat (Felis tigrina), and mandibular characters similar to H. yagouaroundi. In 1985 statistical methods were used to compare F. amnicola to several other small fossil cats from the North American Pleistocene. In that study it was determined that the material that had been attributed to F. amnicola should simply be a subspecies of F. wiedii. However it was also suggested that most of the H. yagouaroundi fossils in the Pliocene and Pleistocene of North America should be reassigned to F. amnicola.

After taking measurements from several mandibles, (including the holotype and paratypes of F. amnicola) I conducted principle component analyses comparing those fossils with several living taxa. Separate analyses were conducted using measurements from just the mandible, as well as combined measurements from both mandibles and dentition. The results of these analyses show that while F. amnicola has strong affinities to F. wiedii, it does appear to be a separate species.