Felis

Felis is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest of the seven Felis species is the black-footed cat with a head and body length from 38 to 42 cm. The largest is the jungle cat with a head and body length from 62 to 76 cm.

Felis

PaleoMatt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
catPBDB
Sits inside
FelinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Felidae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Felidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 202 occurrencesMiocene — about 20 of 202 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 40 of 202 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 112 of 202 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.4–8.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 16 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 25 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 29 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 24 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 82 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

202 occurrences of Felis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

202 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

25 formations

Vogel River Series — 3.23°S, 35.22°EVogel River Series — 3.25°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ERexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WHadar — 11.13°N, 40.59°ETarija — 21.53°S, 64.73°WTarija — 21.50°S, 64.75°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WSan Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.62°N, 117.00°WMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EBone Valley — 27.90°N, 81.80°WGlenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WNubia — 22.52°N, 30.73°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EYuanmou — 24.87°N, 100.94°E'Ubeidiya — 32.68°N, 35.57°EVenta del Moro-Villatoya — 39.48°N, 1.35°WUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ERed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°EKhurdkabul — 34.32°N, 69.42°EVarswater — 32.96°S, 18.11°EZhaotong — 27.32°N, 103.72°EColombacci — 44.22°N, 11.77°EBrochero — 31.92°S, 64.57°W

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The named rock units Felis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 150 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Felis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Felis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,595 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 185 sites for Felis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

143 references

Each of the 202 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 131 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Felis

Credit
PaleoMatt
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Felis catus · uf:mammals:8614

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itFelinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758