Editing Wildcat (section)

==Taxonomy==
''Felis (catus) silvestris'' was the [[scientific name]] used in 1777 by [[Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber|Johann von Schreber]] when he [[scientific description|described]] the European wildcat based on descriptions and names proposed by earlier naturalists such as [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]], [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]] and [[Conrad Gessner]].<ref name=Schreber>{{cite book |last=Schreber |first=J. C. D. |date=1778 |chapter=Die wilde Kaze |chapter-url=http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/schreber1875textbd3/0095?page_query=397&navmode=struct&action=pagesearch&sid=cc4bffe3d0372c2d2c5c1ddb03aed21d |pages=397–402 |title=Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen (Dritter Theil) |trans-title=The mammals with illustrations and descriptions (Part 3) |publisher=Expedition des Schreber'schen Säugthier- und des Esper'schen Schmetterlingswerkes |location=Erlangen}}</ref>
''Felis lybica'' was the name proposed in 1780 by [[Georg Forster]], who described an African wildcat from [[Gafsa]] on the [[Barbary Coast]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Forster |first=G. |date=1780 |chapter=LIII. Der Karakal |pages=304–307 |title=Herrn von Buffon's Naturgeschichte der vierfüssigen Thiere. Mit Vermehrungen, aus dem Französischen übersetzt |volume=6 |publisher=J. Pauli |location=Berlin |trans-title=M. de Buffon's Natural History of Quadrupeds. With additions, translated from French}}</ref>

In subsequent decades, several naturalists and explorers described 40 wildcat [[zoological specimen|specimen]]s collected in European, African and Asian range countries. In the 1940s, the taxonomist [[Reginald Innes Pocock]] reviewed the collection of wildcat skins and skulls in the [[Natural History Museum, London]], and designated seven ''F. silvestris'' [[subspecies]] from Europe to [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], and 25 ''F. lybica'' subspecies from [[Africa]], and [[West Asia|West]] to [[Central Asia]]. Pocock differentiated the:<ref name=Pocock1951/><ref name=Pocock1951_2/>
* '''Forest wildcat''' subspecies (''silvestris'' group)
* '''Steppe wildcat''' subspecies (''ornata''-''caudata'' group): is distinguished from the forest wildcat by being smaller, with comparatively lighter fur colour, and longer and more sharply-pointed tails.<ref name=Pocock1951_2/> The domestic cat is thought to have derived from this group.<ref name="h452-455">{{Harvnb|Heptner|Sludskii|1992|pp=452–455}}</ref><ref name="brock"/><ref name="CA-Driscoll"/>
* '''Bush wildcat''' subspecies (''ornata''-''lybica'' group): is distinguished from the steppe wildcat by paler fur, well-developed spot patterns and bands.<ref name=Pocock1951_2/>
In 2005, 22 subspecies were recognized by the authors of ''[[Mammal Species of the World]]'', who allocated subspecies largely in line with Pocock's assessment.<ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Wozencraft |id=14000057 |pages=536–537 |heading=Species ''Felis silvestris''}}</ref>

In 2006, the [[Chinese mountain cat]] was placed within the wildcat lineage, being found to be more closely related to the Asiatic wildcat and the domestic cat than to the European wildcat through nuclear DNA,<ref name="CA-Driscoll"/><ref name="Johnson"/><ref name=Li_al2016>{{cite journal |author=Li, G. |author2=Davis, B. W. |author3=Eizirik, E. |name-list-style=amp |author4=Murphy, W. J. |year=2016 |title=Phylogenomic evidence for ancient hybridization in the genomes of living cats (Felidae) |journal=Genome Research |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1101/gr.186668.114 |pmid=26518481 |pmc=4691742}}</ref> while being placed as an outgroup to the wildcat clade through mitochondrial DNA.<ref name="CA-Driscoll"/>

In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force revised the [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]] of the Felidae, and recognized the following as [[Valid name (zoology)|valid]] taxa:<ref name="catsg"/>
{|class="wikitable"
! Species and subspecies !! Characteristics !! Image
|-- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''[[European wildcat]]''' (''F. silvestris'') Schreber, 1777; {{small|[[Synonym (taxonomy)|syn.]] ''F. s. ferus'' [[Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben|Erxleben]], 1777; ''obscura'' [[Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest|Desmarest]], 1820; ''hybrida'' [[Johann Baptist Fischer|Fischer]], 1829; ''ferox'' Martorelli, 1896; ''morea'' [[Édouard Louis Trouessart|Trouessart]], 1904; [[Scottish wildcat|''grampia'']] [[Gerrit Smith Miller Jr.|Miller]], 1907; ''tartessia'' Miller, 1907; ''molisana'' [[:it:Giuseppe Altobello|Altobello]], 1921; ''reyi'' [[Louis Lavauden|Lavauden]], 1929; ''jordansi'' [[Ernst Schwarz (zoologist)|Schwarz]], 1930; ''euxina'' Pocock, 1943; ''cretensis'' [[Theodor Haltenorth|Haltenorth]], 1953}}
|This species and the [[nominate subspecies]] has dark grey fur with distinct transverse stripes on the sides and a bushy tail with a rounded black tip.<ref name=Schreber/><ref name=Pocock1951/>
|[[File:Felis silvestris Vadmacska.jpg|thumb]]
|-- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''[[Caucasian wildcat]]''' (''F. s. caucasica'') [[Konstantin Satunin|Satunin]], 1905; {{small|syn. ''trapezia'' Blackler, 1916}}
|This subspecies is light grey with well developed patterns on the head and back and faint transverse bands and spots on the sides. The tail has three distinct black transverse rings.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Satunin, K. A. |year=1905 |title=Die Säugetiere des Talyschgebietes und der Mughansteppe |trans-title=The Mammals of the Talysh area and the Mughan steppe |journal=Mitteilungen des Kaukasischen Museums |issue=2 |pages=87–402}}</ref>
| 
|-- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''[[African wildcat]]''' (''F. lybica'') Forster, 1780; {{small|syn. ''F. l. ocreata'' [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin]], 1791; ''nubiensis'' [[Robert Kerr (writer)|Kerr]], 1792; ''maniculata'' [[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]], 1824; ''mellandi'' Schwann, 1904; ''rubida'' Schwann, 1904; ''ugandae'' Schwann, 1904; ''mauritana'' [[Ángel Cabrera (naturalist)|Cabrera]], 1906; ''nandae'' [[Edmund Heller|Heller]], 1913; ''taitae'' Heller, 1913; ''nesterovi'' Birula, 1916; ''iraki'' [[Robert Ernest Cheesman|Cheesman]], 1921; ''hausa'' [[Oldfield Thomas|Thomas]] and [[Martin Hinton|Hinton]], 1921; ''griselda'' Thomas, 1926; ''brockmani'' Pocock, 1944; ''foxi'' Pocock, 1944; ''pyrrhus'' Pocock, 1944; [[Arabian wildcat|''gordoni'']] [[David Harrison (zoologist)|Harrison]], 1968}}
|This species and the nominate subspecies has pale, buffish or light-greyish fur with a tinge of red on the dorsal band; the length of its pointed tail is about two-thirds of the head to body size.<ref name=Rosevear74>{{Cite book |last=Rosevear |first=D. R. |chapter=''Felis lybica'' Forster African Wild Cat |title=The carnivores of West Africa |location=London |publisher=Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) |year=1974 |pages=384−395 |isbn=978-0565007232 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/carnivoresofwest00rose/page/384}}</ref>
|[[File:Felis silvestris gordoni.jpg|thumb]]
|-- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''[[Southern African wildcat]]''' (''F. l. cafra'') [[Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest|Desmarest]], 1822; {{small|syn. ''F. l. xanthella'' Thomas, 1926; ''vernayi'' [[Austin Roberts (zoologist)|Roberts]], 1932}}
|This subspecies does not differ significantly in colour and pattern from the nominate one. The available zoological specimens merely have slightly longer skulls than those from farther north in Africa.<ref name=Pocock1951_2/>
|[[File:Felis silvestris cafra.jpg|thumb]]
|-- style="vertical-align: top;"
|'''[[Asiatic wildcat]]''' (''F. l. ornata'') [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1830; {{small|syn. ''syriaca'' [[Henry Baker Tristram|Tristram]], 1867; ''caudata'' Gray, 1874; ''maniculata'' Yerbury and Thomas, 1895; ''kozlovi'' Satunin, 1905; ''matschiei''  [[:de:Ludwig Zukowsky|Zukowsky]], 1914; ''griseoflava'' Zukowsky, 1915; ''longipilis'' Zukowsky, 1915; ''macrothrix'' Zukowsky, 1915; ''murgabensis'' Zukowsky, 1915; ''schnitnikovi'' Birula, 1915; ''issikulensis'' [[Sergey Ognev|Ognev]], 1930; ''tristrami'' Pocock, 1944}}
|This subspecies has dark spots on light, ochreous-grey coloured fur.<ref name=Pocock1951_2/>
|[[File:Felis silvestris ornata.jpg|thumb]]
|}