Editing Felis (section)

{{Short description|Genus of mammals (cats)}}
{{Other uses|Felis (disambiguation)}}
{{Use DMY dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Piacenzian]] – [[Holocene]] {{Fossilrange|3.4|0}}
| image = Felis_collage.png
| image_upright = 1.2
| image_caption = The six wild ''Felis'' species; from top-left, clockwise: [[European wildcat]] (''F. silvestris''), [[jungle cat]] (''F. chaus''), [[African wildcat]] (''F. lybica''), [[black-footed cat]] (''F. nigripes''), [[sand cat]] (''F. margarita''), [[Chinese mountain cat]] (''F. bieti'')
| taxon = Felis
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| type_species = ''[[Felis catus]]''
| type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = See {{section link||Taxonomy}}
| range_map = Felis range.png
| range_map_caption = Native ''Felis'' range
}}
'''''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 {{convert|38|to|42|cm|in|abbr=on}}. The largest is the [[jungle cat]] with a head and body length from {{convert|62|to|76|cm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Pocock1951>{{cite book |last=Pocock |first=R. I. |date=1951 |title=Catalogue of the genus ''Felis'' |publisher=British Museum of Natural History |location=London |url= https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofgenus00brit#page/n6/mode/1up}}</ref>

Genetic studies indicate that the [[Felinae]] genera ''Felis'', ''[[Pallas's cat|Otocolobus]]'' and ''[[Prionailurus]]'' diverged from a Eurasian progenitor of the [[Felidae]] about 6.2 million years ago, and that ''Felis'' species split off 3.04 to 0.99 million years ago.<ref name=Johnson_al2006>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.1122277 |volume=311 |issue=5757 |pages=73–77 |title=The Late Miocene Radiation of Modern Felidae: A Genetic Assessment |journal=Science |year=2006 |pmid=16400146 |last1=Johnson |first1=W. E. |last2=Eizirik |first2=E. |last3=Pecon-Slattery |first3=J. |last4=Murphy |first4=W. J. |last5=Antunes |first5=A. |last6=Teeling |first6=E. |last7=O'Brien |first7=S. J. |bibcode=2006Sci...311...73J |s2cid=41672825|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1230866 }}</ref><ref name=Pecon-Slattery>{{cite journal |last1=Pecon-Slattery |first1= J. |last2=O'Brien |first2=S. J. |date=1998 |title=Patterns of Y and X chromosome DNA sequence divergence during the Felidae radiation |journal=Genetics |volume=148 |issue=3 |pages=1245–1255 |doi=10.1093/genetics/148.3.1245 |pmid=9539439 |pmc=1460026 |url= http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/148/3/1245}}</ref>