A new tiger cat, Leopardus tilcayo, is named in Bolivia's Yungas
Live Science, NBC News and New Scientist all report a Current Biology paper dated 17 September 2026 that names Leopardus tilcayo, a tiger cat from Bolivia's Yungas cloud forest, after complete genomes from 38 Leopardus individuals. The lineage split about 1.4 million years ago. Descriptions rest on two live Bolivian animals, including a captive type specimen nicknamed Tigrino. Co-author Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz told NBC the wild population size is still unknown.
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Five tiger cats, one new name
Live Science says researchers identified Leopardus tilcayo in Bolivia's Yungas cloud forest in a Current Biology paper published Thursday, from complete genomes of 38 Leopardus individuals, and concluded tiger cats comprise five species. NBC News, timestamped 11.01 a.m. EDT on 17 September 2026, says the same paper describes a spotted cat smaller than a typical house cat. New Scientist says Eduardo Eizirik and colleagues analysed 38 genomes, including 26 tiger cats, and found a fifth lineage on the east slopes of the Andes. Live Science previously treated the animal as northern tiger cat, Leopardus tigrinus. The paper, as all three outlets tell it, is genomic rather than a new camera-trap first sighting.[1], [2]
A 1.4-million-year split and a captive type
Live Science reports a split from other Leopardus species about 1.4 million years ago and says descriptions rest on two live Bolivian animals, including a captive male at Senda Verde, Tigrino, used as the type specimen. New Scientist gives combined head and body length of about 42 to 50 centimetres and mass of 1.5 to 2 kilograms, and says the lineage diverged from the line containing L. tigrinus and L. pardinoides nearly 1.4 million years ago. New Scientist also notes a new subspecies in the Peruvian Yungas, L. tigrinus, described by the same team; that is a separate naming from L. tilcayo.[1], [3]
The wild count is still unknown
Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a co-author who leads Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia, told NBC it is the first new cat species named in 100 years, that the wild population size is not clear, and that more studies are needed for conservation. Live Science also calls this the first new living cat species named in over a century since Leopardus fasciatus in 1923. Eizirik, in New Scientist, said this is the first time a living cat has been scientifically named in a century. NBC says National Geographic funding supported Nogales-Ascarrunz's conservation work. Population size remaining unknown is her caution, not a census number.[2]
