Leopardus emiliae ( Thomas, 1914 )

Nascimento, Fabio Oliveira do & Feijó, Anderson, 2017, Taxonomic revision of the tigrina Leopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775) species group (Carnivora, Felidae), Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 57 (19), pp. 231-264 : 247-248

Leopardus emiliae ( Thomas, 1914)

Eastern or Snethlage’s tigrina

Felis emiliae Thomas, 1914:348 . Type locality “Ipu, Ceará, N.E. Brazil ”.

Oncilla guttula emiliae : Allen, 1919:360 (new combination).

Oncifelis pardinoides emiliae : Weigel, 1961:34.

Felis (Leopardus) tigrina tigrina : Cabrera, 1958:287 (part).

Leopardus tigrinus tigrinus : Wozencraft, 2005:539 (part).

Type locality: “Ipu, Ceará, N.E. Brazil. Alt. 300 m ”. Based on the information provided by Paynter Jr. & Traylor Jr. (1991), Ipu is located on eastern edge of Serra da Ibiapaba , northwestern Ceará (04°19’S, 41°42’W) .

Type material: “Adult male. B.M. no. 13.12.18.3. Original number 11. Collected 24 th May, 1910, by Fräulein Dr. E[milie]. Snethlage. Presented by the authorities of the Goeldi Museum, Para. Two specimens ” ( Thomas, 1914) ( Fig. 11 ) .

Diagnosis: Small sized; fur relatively harsh; ground color light yellowish brown to pale yellow and grayish yellow; venter white, very light gray or slightly yellowish with medium and small-sized dark spots; small dark rosettes on the body sides, not coalescing into small-sized oblique bands; rims of rosettes narrow and usually discontinuous.

Body measurements: See Morphogroup II in Table 2.

Geographical distribution: L. emiliae is the only Felidae species endemic of Brazil, distributed in the north (right bank of the Amazonas River), northeastern and central portion of this country (states of Pará, Tocantins, Maranhão, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia and Goiás), which includes Caatinga, Cerrado, Amazonia and Atlantic Forest biomes ( Fig. 12 ) .

Variation: The material here referring to L. emiliae that we had for study was constituted by 15 skulls and 59 skins. Regarding to the skins, which have a comparatively larger sample, we noted that individuals in northern, northeastern and central Brazil have much more yellowish coloration and pale ( Fig. 13 ) compared to specimens of neighboring L. guttulus . For example, the specimens BMNH 13.12.18.3 (ho-

248 NASCIMENTO, F.O. & FEIJÓ, A.: TAXONOMY OF TIGRINA LEOPARDUS TIGRINUS lotype) ( Fig. 11 ) and MPEG 588 (topotype) from Ipu, Ceará, Brazil, exhibit a distinct pattern of pale yellowish brown coloration on the back and white (holotype) or slightly yellowish (topotype) color in the venter, when compared them with specimens of L. guttulus and L. tigrinus .

The overall coloration of pelage vary from pale orangish yellow ( UFPB 6592 and UFPB 6266), dark yellow on the dorsum, and pale yellow on the sides of the body ( UFPB 983), to uniformly dark yellow ( UFPB 6265). Some specimens show distinctive continuous black lines that run throughout the posterior half of the dorsum to the base of the tail ( UFPB 6265), while in others these lines are not continuous or barely perceptible ( UFPB 6266). Leopardus emiliae exhibits circular rosettes that do not coalesce to form lateral bands. The rosettes are surrounded by small black spots ( UFPB 3243 and UFPB 6592) or thin black lines that encircle in higher ( UFPB 6265) or lesser ( UFPB 6270 and UFPB 983) extent the rosettes, but rarely surround them completely. Melanistic individuals were not recorded for this species.

Taxonomic notes: Thomas (1914) described a new species of tigrina from Ceará, Brazil, which was named Felis emiliae , and according to the author, it would belong to F. guttula group. Two specimens were collect- ed, one of them, the holotype ( BMNH 13.12.18.3), was deposited in the Natural History Museum, London, and the other ( MPEG 588) in the collection of Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belém, Brazil. Later, Allen (1919) classified this cat as Oncifelis guttula emiliae , a decision followed by Weigel (1961). Cabrera (1958), however, questioned the validity of this taxon, because Thomas (1914) had not compared the specimens with material from French Guiana, the type locality of Felis tigrina Schreber, 1775 . Thus, Cabrera considered the form from northeast Brazil as a junior synonym of Felis (Leopardus) tigrinus tigrinus , decision also followed by subsequent authors, including Wozencraft (2005). However, according to the results shown here, we recognize F. emiliae Thomas, 1914 as valid name, and therefore, L. emiliae as a full species.

Figures

FIGURE 11: Dorsal (up) and ventral (bottom) views of the skin of the holotype of L. emiliae, specimen from Ipu, Ceará, Brazil (BMNH13.12.18.3; male). Bar = 100 mm. Photo: Thiago Semedo. For color figure, see online version.

FIGURE 12: Geographic distribution of the specimens of L. emiliae studied. Numbers correspond to collection localities listed in the gazetteer (see Appendix II) and the star refers to the type locality. For color figure, see online version.

FIGURE 13: Pattern of coloration and markings in L. emiliae: (A): UFPB6267 (Sítio Corea, Várzea, Paraíba, Brazil); (B): UFPB7061 (Comunidade Soledade, Paraíba, Brazil); (C): UFPB3243 (Jaguaribe, Ceará, Brazil). Bar = 100 mm. For color figure, see online version.