Editing Bobcat (section)

==Taxonomy and evolution==
[[File:Ernest Ingersoll - lynx rufus & lynx canadensis.png|upright|thumb|The [[Canada lynx]] has distinct tufts atop its ears and longer "[[Sideburns|mutton chop]]" style fur on its lower face]]

''Felis rufa'' was the [[scientific name]] proposed by [[Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber]] in 1777.<ref>{{cite book |author=Schreber, J. C. D. |year=1778 |chapter=Der Rotluchs |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/SaYugthiereAbbiIIISchr#page/412/mode/1up |pages=442–443 |title=Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen |location=Erlangen |publisher=Wolfgang Walther}}</ref> In the 19th and 20th centuries, the following [[zoological specimens]] were described:<ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Wozencraft |id=14000163 |heading=Species ''Lynx rufus'' |page=542}}</ref>

*''Lynx floridanus'' proposed by [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]] in 1817 was a greyish lynx with yellowish brown spots from [[Florida]].<ref name=Rafinesque>{{cite journal |author=Rafinesque, C. S. |year=1817 |title=Descriptions of seven new genera of North American quadrupeds |journal=The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review |volume=2 |pages=44–46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1HOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA46}}</ref>
*''Lynx fasciatus'' also proposed by Rafinesque in 1817 was a reddish brown lynx with a thick fur from the northwest coast.<ref name=Rafinesque/>
* ''Lynx baileyi'' proposed by [[Clinton Hart Merriam]] in 1890 was a female lynx that was shot in the [[San Francisco Mountain]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Merriam C. H. |year=1890 |title=Results of a biological survey of the San Francisco Mountain region and desert of the Little Colorado in Arizona |journal=North American Fauna |volume=3 |pages=78–86 |bibcode=1890usgs.rept....3M |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700953/m1/89/ |access-date=2021-03-11 |archive-date=2022-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227100551/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700953/m1/89/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''Lynx texensis'' proposed by [[Joel Asaph Allen]] in 1895 to replace the earlier name ''Lynx rufus var. maculatus''.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Allen, J. A. |year=1895 |title=On the names of mammals given by Kerr in his 'Animal Kingdom', published in 1792 |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=179–192 |url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/1034//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B007a05.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=2021-03-12 |archive-date=2021-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024021202/https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/1034/v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B007a05.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''Lynx gigas'' proposed by [[Outram Bangs]] in 1897 was a skin of an adult male lynx shot near [[Bear River, Nova Scotia]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Bangs O. |year=1897 |title=Notes on the lynxes of eastern North America, with descriptions of two new species |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=11 |issue= |pages=47–51 |url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofbio11biol/page/50/mode/2up}}</ref>
* ''Lynx rufus eremicus'' and ''Lynx rufus californicus'' proposed by [[Edgar Alexander Mearns]] in 1898 were skins and skulls of two adult lynxes killed in [[San Diego County, California]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mearns E. A. |year=1898 |title=Preliminary diagnoses of new mammals of the genera ''Lynx'', ''Urocyon'', ''Spilogale'' and ''Mephitis'' from the Mexican Boundary Line |journal=Proceedings of the United States National Museum |volume=20 |issue=1126 |pages=457–461 |doi=10.5479/si.00963801.1126.457 |url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofuni201898unit/page/n541/mode/2up}}</ref>
* ''Lynx rufus peninsularis'' proposed by [[Oldfield Thomas]] in 1898 was a skull and a pale rufous skin of a male lynx from [[Baja California Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Thomas, O. |year=1898 |title=On new mammals from western Mexico and Lower California |journal=The Annals and Magazine of Natural History |series=7 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=40–46 |doi=10.1080/00222939808677921 |url=https://archive.org/details/s7annalsmagazine01londuoft/page/42/mode/2up}}</ref>
* ''Lynx fasciatus pallescens'' proposed by Merriam in 1899, was a skin of a gray lynx that was killed near [[Trout Lake, Washington]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Merriam, C. H. |year=1899 |title=Mammals of Shasta |journal=North American Fauna |volume=16 |pages=87–107 |doi=10.3996/nafa.16.0001 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
* ''Lynx ruffus escuinapae'' proposed by Allen in 1903 was a skull and a pale rufous skin of an adult female from [[Escuinapa Municipality]] in Mexico.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Allen J. A. |year=1903 |title=A new deer and a new lynx from the State of Sinaloa, Mexico |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=19 |issue=25 |pages=613–615 |url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/700//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B019a25.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=2021-03-12 |archive-date=2021-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215214151/https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/700//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B019a25.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref>
<!-- is this erroneous ? : * ''L. r. mohavensis'' (Anderson) – [[Mojave Desert]] in [[California]] and [[Nevada]] -->
* ''Lynx rufus superiorensis'' by Randolph Lee Peterson and Stuart C. Downing in 1952 was a skeleton and skin of a male lynx killed near [[Port Arthur, Ontario]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Peterson, R. L. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Downing, S. C. |year=1952 |title=Notes on the bobcats (''Lynx rufus'') of eastern North America with the description of a new race |journal=Contributions of the Royal Ontario Museum Division of Zoology and Palaeontolgy |issue=33 |pages=1–23 |url=https://archive.org/details/notesonbobcatsly00pete/page/n9/mode/2up}}</ref>
* ''Lynx rufus oaxacensis'' proposed by George Goodwin in 1963 was based on three skulls and six skins of lynxes killed in the Mexican [[Tehuantepec District]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Goodwin, G. G. |year=1963 |title=A new subspecies of bobcat (''Lynx rufus'') from Oaxaca, Mexico |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=2139 |pages=1–7 |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/3383/N2139.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=2021-03-13 |archive-date=2021-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215214124/https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/3383/N2139.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Valid name (zoology)|validity]] of these subspecies was challenged in 1981 because of the minor differences between specimens from the various geographic regions in North America.<ref>{{cite thesis |author=Read, J. A. |year=1981 |title=Geographic variation in the bobcat (''Felis rufus'') in the southcentral United States |type=Master's thesis |publisher=Texas A&M University |location=College Station, Texas |url=https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1981-THESIS-R283 |access-date=2021-03-13 |archive-date=2020-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127050616/https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1981-THESIS-R283 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since the revision of cat taxonomy in 2017, only two subspecies are recognized as valid [[taxon|taxa]]:<ref name="Catsg2017">{{cite journal |author1=Kitchener, A. C. |author2=Breitenmoser-Würsten, C. |author3=Eizirik, E. |author4=Gentry, A. |author5=Werdelin, L. |author6=Wilting, A. |author7=Yamaguchi, N. |author8=Abramov, A. V. |author9=Christiansen, P. |author10=Driscoll, C. |author11=Duckworth, J. W. |author12=Johnson, W. |author13=Luo, S.-J. |author14=Meijaard, E. |author15=O'Donoghue, P. |author16=Sanderson, J. |author17=Seymour, K. |author18=Bruford, M. |author19=Groves, C. |author20=Hoffmann, M. |author21=Nowell, K. |author22=Timmons, Z. |author23=Tobe, S. |year=2017 |title=A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group |journal=Cat News |issue=Special Issue 11 |pages=38–40 |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/32616/A_revised_Felidae_Taxonomy_CatNews.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=2018-07-14 |archive-date=2020-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200117172708/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/32616/A_revised_Felidae_Taxonomy_CatNews.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''L. r. rufus'' – east of the Great Plains 
* ''L. r. fasciatus'' – west of the Great Plains

=== Phylogeny ===
The genus ''[[Lynx]]'' shares a [[clade]] with the [[genera]] ''[[Puma (genus)|Puma]]'', ''[[Prionailurus]]'' and ''[[Felis]]'' dated to {{mya|7.15}}; ''Lynx'' diverged approximately {{mya|3.24}}.<ref name=Johnson2006>{{cite journal | author = Johnson, W.E. | author2 = Eizirik, E. | author3 = Pecon-Slattery, J. | author4 = Murphy, W.J. | author5 = Antunes, A. | author6 = Teeling, E. | author7 = O'Brien, S.J. | name-list-style = amp | year = 2006 | doi = 10.1126/science.1122277 | title = The Late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment | journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume = 311 | pages = 73–77 | pmid = 16400146 | issue = 5757 | bibcode = 2006Sci...311...73J | s2cid = 41672825 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1230866 | access-date = 2019-06-28 | archive-date = 2020-10-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201004075725/https://zenodo.org/record/1230866 | url-status = live }}</ref>

The bobcat is thought to have evolved from the [[Eurasian lynx]] (''L. lynx''), which crossed into North America by way of the [[Bering Land Bridge]] during the [[Pleistocene]], with progenitors arriving as early as 2.6 million years ago.<ref name=CanLynx>{{cite web |author1=Meaney, C. |author2=Beauvais, G. P. |name-list-style=amp |title=Species Assessment for Canada lynx (''Lynx canadensis'') in Wyoming |url=https://www.wlci.gov/view-document/4f4e4b32e4b07f02db6b4a5c |access-date=June 25, 2007 |date=2004 |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior]], Bureau of Land Management |archive-date=February 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227104011/https://www.wlci.gov/view-document/4f4e4b32e4b07f02db6b4a5c |url-status=dead }}</ref> It first appeared during the [[Irvingtonian]] stage around {{mya|1.8}}. The first bobcat wave moved into the southern portion of North America, which was soon cut off from the north by [[glacier]]s; the population evolved into the modern bobcat around 20,000 years ago. A second population arrived from Asia and settled in the north, developing into the modern [[Canada lynx]] (''L. canadensis'').<ref name=lox>{{cite book |author1=Zielinski, W. J. |author2=Kuceradate, T. E. |name-list-style=amp |year=1998 |title=American Marten, Fisher, Lynx, and Wolverine: Survey Methods for Their Detection |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-0-7881-3628-3 |pages=77–78}}</ref> [[Hybrid (biology)|Hybrid]]ization between the bobcat and the Canada lynx may sometimes occur.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mills, L. S. |date=2006 |title=Conservation of Wildlife Populations: Demography, Genetics, and Management |url-access=limited |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=978-1-4051-2146-0 |page=48 |url= https://archive.org/details/conservationwild00mill/page/n64}}</ref>
The populations east and west of the [[Great Plains]] were probably separated during Pleistocene [[interglacial period]]s due to the aridification of the region.<ref>{{cite thesis |author=Reding D. M. |year=2011 |title=Patterns and processes of spatial genetic structure in a mobile and continuously distributed species, the bobcat (''Lynx rufus'') |type=PhD Thesis |location=Ames, Iowa |publisher=Iowa State University |pages=}}</ref>