Thursday 28 November 2013

Another new species discovered



New species of wild cat identified in Brazil
By Jeremy Coles Reporter, BBC Nature
A new species of wild cat has been identified in South America by using molecular markers, researchers claim.By comparing DNA sequences, the team revealed that two populations of tigrina in Brazil do not interbreed and are evolutionarily distinct.Results also show the two populations have contrasting interactions with the closely related pampas cat and Geoffroy's cat.The findings are published in the journal Current Biology.There are at least seven species of small wild cat in the genus Leopardus in Central and South America, which are thought to have first colonised the region during the late Pliocene (2.5 - 3.5 million years ago). 

Read rest see pics here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/25086721

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