Caracal (genus)
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Karakal ( caracal carakal ) |
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| Gray , 1843 |
Caracal is agenus of carnivore from the family of cats (Felidae). It comprises two medium-sized species, the caracal ( Caracal carakal ), which occurs in rather dry habitats in Africa and the Near East, and the African golden cat ( Caracal aurata ), which is at home in the West and Central African rainforest belts .
The genus Caracal was introduced in 1843 by the British zoologist John Edward Gray and was only valid for the caracal for more than 150 years, which was first described in 1776 by the German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber under the name Felis carakal . The generic name is made up of two words from Turkish ("kara" means black and "kulak" means ear) and indicates the black ear brush of the caracal.
The African golden cat was described in 1827 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck under the scientific name Felis aurata , but assigned to the monotypical genus Profelis as early as 1858 by the Russian zoologist Nikolai Alexejewitsch Severzow . In the meantime it was also placed in a common genus Catopuma , together with the Asian golden cat and the Borneo golden cat . According to more recent findings, however, it is more closely related to the caracal and serval than to the Asian golden cats. The African golden cat is now considered the second species of the genus Caracal .
features
Since the current scope of the genus is based on molecular biological studies, there is currently no classic description of phenotypic genus characteristics. The two species in the genus are medium-sized cats with a head body length of 60 to 105 cm and a short tail. Males reach a maximum weight of 16 (African golden cat) or 20 kg (caracal), females remain significantly smaller with a maximum of 8 (African golden cat) or 16 kg (caracal). The caracal is monochrome ocher yellow or gray, while the African golden cat can be red-gold, silver-gray, brown or entirely black. On the stomach, but also occasionally all over the body, there are more or less distinct spots in the shape of dots or rosettes. The face of both cats is round, the muzzle short and strong.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kitchener AC, Breitenmoser-Würsten Ch., Eizirik E., Gentry A., Werdelin L., Wilting A., Yamaguchi N., Abramov AV, Christiansen P., Driscoll C., Duckworth JW, Johnson W., Luo S. .-J., Meijaard E., O'Donoghue P., Sanderson J., Seymour K., Bruford M., Groves C., Hoffmann M., Nowell K., Timmons Z. & Tobe S. 2017. A revised taxonomy of the Felidae. The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group. Cat News Special Issue 11, 80 pp.
- ^ "Caracal" in the online edition of Merriam-Webster Dictionary
- ↑ Laila Bahaa-el-din, Philipp Henschel, Thomas M. Butynski, David W. Macdonald, David Mills, Rob Slotow & Luke Hunter: The African golden cat Caracal aurata : Africa's least-known felid. Mammal Review. Volume 45, issue 1, pages 63-77, January 2015, DOI: 10.1111 / mam.12033
- ↑ Johnson, WE, Eizirik, E., Pecon-Slattery, J., Murphy, WJ, Antunes, A., Teeling, E., O'Brien, SJ (2006) The late miocene radiation of modern felidae: A genetic assessment . Science 311: 73-77. DOI: 10.1126 / science.1122277
- ↑ Caracal aurata in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Cat Specialist Group, 2002. Accessed April 20, 2018th
- ^ Mel E. Sunquist & Fiona C. Sunquist: Family Felidae (Cats). Pages 142 to 143 in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 1 Carnivores. Lynx Editions, 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1