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The number of accepted species in Felidae has been around 40 since the 18th century, though research, especially modern molecular phylogenetic analysis, has over time adjusted the generally accepted genera as well as the divisions between recognized subspecies, species, and population groups. [9]
Most cat species have a haploid number of 18 or 19. Central and South American cats have a haploid number of 18, possibly due to the combination of two smaller chromosomes into a larger one. [31] Felidae have type IIx muscle fibers three times more powerful than the muscle fibers of human athletes. [32]
Felidae (/ ˈ f ɛ l ɪ d iː /) is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( / ˈ f iː l ɪ d / ). The 41 extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestrial carnivores.
The eight species in the family exhibit significant variations in form. These differences initially led to the species in this family sharing common names with, and being placed in the different families of, apparently more similar species on the mainland (e.g. civets and mongoose).
Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described—of which around 1 million are insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million in total. Animals range in size from 8.5 millionths of a metre to 33.6 metres (110 ft) long and have complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs .
The Pantherinae is a subfamily of the Felidae; it was named and first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917 as only including the Panthera species, [2] but later also came to include the clouded leopards (genus Neofelis).
This is a list of extant species in the Felidae family, which aims to evaluate their size, ordered by maximum reported weight and size of wild individuals on record. The list does not contain cat hybrids , such as the liger or tigon .
Various carnivorans, with feliforms to the left, and caniforms to the right. Carnivora is an order of placental mammals that have specialized in primarily eating flesh. Members of this order are called carnivorans, or colloquially carnivores, though the term more properly refers to any meat-eating organisms, and some carnivoran species are omnivores or herbivores.