Caracal (genus)

Short description: Genus of carnivores

Caracal

African golden cat (C. aurata)
Caracal (C. caracal)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Mammalia
Order:  | Carnivora
Suborder:  | Feliformia
Family:  | Felidae
Subfamily:  | Felinae
Genus:  | Caracal
Gray, 1843
Type species
Caracal melanotis

Gray, 1843

Species

See text

Caracal is a genus in the subfamily Felinae of the family Felidae. It was proposed by John Edward Gray in 1843 who described a skin from the Cape of Good Hope in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.[1] Historically, it was considered to be a monotypic genus, consisting of only the type species: the caracal C. caracal.[2]

## Taxonomy

Phylogenetic analysis revealed that caracal, African golden cat (C. aurata) and serval (Leptailurus serval) are genetically closely related forming a genetic lineage that diverged from the common ancestor of the Felidae 7.91 to 4.14 million years ago.[3] This taxonomic classification is used in the IUCN Red List for the African golden cat.[4] It is used as a synonym for the serval.[5]

Genus Caracal  – Gray, 1843 – two species  Common name  | Scientific name and subspecies  | Range  | Size and ecology  | IUCN status and estimated population

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|
|
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Double-toothed kite

| Caracal caracal
(Schreber, 1776)

Three subspecies

* Southern caracal (C. c. caracal) (Schreber, 1776)
* Northern caracal (C. c. nubicus) (Fischer, 1829)[6]
* Asiatic caracal (C. c. schmitzi) (Matschie, 1912)

| Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela
| Size:

Habitat:

Diet:  |  NT

[7]

African golden cat

| Caracal aurata
(Temminck, 1823)

Two subspecies

* C. a. aurata (Temminck, 1827)
* C. a. celidogaster (Temminck, 1827)

| Brazil, Paraguay and eastern Bolivia ; winters north to the Amazon basin and the Guyana Shield
| Size:

Habitat:

Diet:  |  VU

[4]

## References

1. ↑ Gray, J. E. (1843). "The Caracal". List of the specimens of Mammalia in the collection of the British Museum. London: The Trustees of the British Museum. p. 46. https://archive.org/details/listofspecimenso00brit_0/page/150/mode/1up.
2. ↑ Wozencraft, W.C. (2005). "Genus Carcal". in Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 533. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=14000013.
3. ↑ Johnson, W. E.; Eizirik, E.; Pecon-Slattery, J.; Murphy, W.J.; Antunes, A.; Teeling, E.; O'Brien, S.J. (2006). "The Late Miocene Radiation of Modern Felidae: A Genetic Assessment". Science 311 (5757): 73–7. doi:10.1126/science.1122277. PMID 16400146. Bibcode: 2006Sci...311...73J. https://zenodo.org/record/1230866.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bahaa-el-din, L.; Mills, D.; Hunter, L.; Henschel, P. (2015). "Caracal aurata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T18306A50663128. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18306/50663128.
5. ↑ Thiel, C. (2015). "Leptailurus serval". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T11638A50654625. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/11638/50654625. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
6. ↑ Fischer, J. B. (1829). "F. caracal Schreb.". Synopsis Mammalium. Stuttgart: J. G. Cottae. p. 210. https://books.google.com/books?id=_no-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA210.
7. ↑ Avgan, B.; Henschel, P.; Ghoddousi, A. (2016). "Caracal caracal". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T3847A102424310. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T3847A50650230.en. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/3847/102424310. Retrieved 15 January 2022. {{cite iucn}}: error: |doi= / |page= mismatch (help)

## External links

Wikidata ☰ Q2937805 entry

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