Tilcayo tiger cat

The tilcayo is the first newly identified species of the Felidae, or cat family, to be formally identified in over a century—the first since the Pampas cat L. fasciatus in 1923.^[1] The species was already known by local communities.^[2]

Biologist and National Geographic explorer Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz first encountered the species in 2016, when a local wildlife sanctuary contacted her about a cat that had been brought in. For around one year prior, the cat had been living with a man in La Paz who found it as a kitten and initially believed it to be a domestic cat before realising it required the care of a wildlife sanctuary. During that time, he had attempted feeding it "noodles, rice, and eggs".^[3] Nogales-Ascarrunz was intrigued by the cat and photographed it. At the time, she believed it to be a unique-looking member of the related species Leopardus tigrinus.^[1]

In 2019, while preparing a booklet of Bolivian cat species, Nogales-Ascarrunz realised that the individual from the wildlife sanctuary appeared distinct from L. tigrinus.^[1] The tilcayo was later identified as a distinct species using genomic analysis.^[4]

Photographed in captivity (La Senda Verde)

The name "tilcayo" was already used for the species by local communities in the region.^[4] The exact etymology is not clear, as it does not seem to be directly related to any words in Spanish or Quechua, another language spoken in Bolivia.^[1]

A genetic analysis of 38 cats from South and Central America, including 26 individuals in the Leopardus tigrinus species complex, revealed that the tigrinus complex consists of five distinct species, including L. tilcayo, which is believed to have split off from other Leopardus species over 1.4 million years ago.^[4][5] The study incorporated genetic material from previously unsampled tiger cats in the Guianas region, near where L. tigrinus was originally described in 1775, which study co-lead author Jonas Lescroart, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Antwerp, called "the most complete genetic study yet" of the group.^[6]

The time-scaled, maximum-likelihood phylogeny of the genus Leopardus obtained from mitogenomes is displayed below:^[4]

The fur of the tilcayo is light brown with irregularly shaped rosettes.^[2] Its rosettes are large, dark brown to black in color, appear mostly open or partially closed, and do not coalesce.^[4] It also has short, round ears, long whiskers, and a scrunched-up face. Like many species in the Leopardus genus, it is smaller than a domestic cat.^[1] It has a head–body length between 42.5–50 centimetres (16.7–19.7 in), with a tail length between 25–26.5 cm (9.8–10.4 in). It weighs between 1.5–2.0 kilograms (3.3–4.4 lb).^[5]

The species was found near the town of Arapata in Nor Yungas Province, La Paz, Bolivia, 1,570 m (5,150 ft) above sea level.^[4] This locality is positioned in the Yungas forest region (a cloud forest), on the eastern slope of the Andes mountain range in Bolivia.^[1]

As of September 2026, little is known about the tilcayo tiger cat. Remains of small rodents in feces samples indicate that they are part of the species' diet, while camera footage suggests the species may be more active at night.^[2]

As of September 2026, L. tilcayo has not been formally assessed by the IUCN Red List. It currently recognizes two tiger cat species, L. tigrinus and L. guttulus, are both listed as vulnerable.^[6] According to a study co-lead author Jonas Lescroart, the research team shared its findings with the IUCN ahead of a planned reassessment of tiger cats, in which each newly delineated species is expected to be evaluated separately, rather than as part of a single combined classification.^[6] Study co-author Tadeu de Oliveira, an ecologist at the State University of Maranhão in Brazil, said the tiger cat species identified in the study are found in habitats that are "vanishing fast."^[3]