Definition
noun
(taxonomy) A genus of the family Felidae and includes domestic cat, sand cat, black-footed cat, wildcat, jungle cat, and Chinese mountain cat
Supplement
Felidae is comprised of two subfamilies: Pantherinae (big cats) and Felinae. The latter includes the following extant genera: Acinonyx, Caracal, Catopuma, Felis, Leopardus, Leptailurus, Lynx, Otocolobus, Pardofelis, Prionailurus, and Puma.
Felis is a genus comprised of small and medium-sized cat species. It includes the extant species, domestic cat (F. catus), sand cat (F. margarita), black-footed cat (F. nigripes), wildcat (F. silvestris), jungle cat (F. chaus), and Chinese mountain cat (F. bieti). Two extinct species are also included in this genus: F. attica and F. lunensis. These species in the genus Felis have high and wide skulls, short jaws and narrow ears with short tufts, but without any white spots on the back of the ears. The pupils may contract to a vertical slit.1 In these cats, the smallest is the black-footed cat (head-body length of 38 to 42 cm). The largest is the jungle cat with a head to body length of 62 to 76 cm.
Scientific classification:
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Family: Felidae
- Subfamily: Felinae
- Genus: Felis (Linnaeus, 1758)
See also:
Reference(s):
1 Felis. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felis.
