# Felinae

The small cats or Felinae are a subfamily of Felidae distinguished by their bony hyoids, which let them purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily, as comprising only the living conical-toothed cat genera with two tribes, the Felini and Pantherini, and excluding the extinct sabre-toothed Machairodontinae.

## Characteristics

The members of the Felinae have retractile claws that are protected by at least one cutaneous lobe. Their larynx is kept close to the base of the skull by an ossified hyoid. They can purr owing to the vocal folds being shorter than 6 mm (0.24 in). The cheetah Acinonyx does not have cutaneous sheaths for guarding claws.

## Taxonomy

The term 'Felini' was first used in 1817 by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim, at the time for all the cat species that had been proposed as belonging to the genus Felis. In 1917, Reginald Innes Pocock also subordinated the following genera to the Felinae that had been proposed in the course of the 19th century: Lynx, Puma, Leptailurus, Prionailurus, Pardofelis, Leopardus, Herpailurus, Neofelis and four more.
The Felinae and Pantherinae probably diverged about 11.5 million years ago. The genera within the Felinae diverged between 10.67 and 4.23 million years ago.
Today, the following living genera and species are recognised as belonging to the Felinae:
| Genus | Species | Range |
| Acinonyx Brookes, 1828 | Cheetah (A. jubatus) Schreber, 1777 | Africa and Southwestern Asia |
| Caracal Gray, 1843 | Caracal (C. caracal) (Schreber, 1776) African golden cat (C. aurata) (Temminck, 1827) | Africa and Southwestern Asia |
| Catopuma Severtzov, 1858 | Asian golden cat (C. temminckii) (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) Bay cat (C. badia) (Gray, 1874) | Southeastern Asia |
| Felis Linnaeus, 1758 | Domestic cat (F. catus) Linnaeus, 1758 European wildcat (F. silvestris) Schreber, 1777 Jungle cat (F. chaus) Schreber, 1777 African wildcat (F. lybica) Forster, 1780 Black-footed cat (F. nigripes) Burchell, 1824 Sand cat (F. margarita) Loche, 1858 Chinese mountain cat (F. bieti) Milne-Edwards, 1892 | Afro-Eurasia Worldwide (Domestic Cat) |
| Herpailurus Severtzov, 1858 | Jaguarundi (H. yagouaroundi) (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803) | Central and Southern America |
| Leopardus Gray, 1842 | Ocelot (L. pardalis) (Linnaeus, 1758) Oncilla (L. tigrinus) (Schreber, 1775) Pampas cat (L. colocolo) (Molina, 1782) Kodkod (L. guigna) (Molina, 1782) Margay (L. wiedii) (Schinz, 1821) Geoffroy's cat (L. geoffroyi) (d'Orbigny & Gervais, 1844) Andean mountain cat (L. jacobitus) (Cornalia, 1865) Southern tiger cat (L. guttulus) (Hensel, 1872) | Central and Southern America |
| Leptailurus Severtzov, 1858 | Serval (L. serval) (Schreber, 1775) | Africa |
| Lynx Kerr, 1792 | Eurasian lynx (L. lynx) (Linnaeus, 1758) Bobcat (L. rufus) (Schreber, 1777) Canada lynx (L. canadensis) Kerr, 1792 Iberian lynx (L. pardinus) (Temminck, 1827) | Northern Hemisphere |
| Otocolobus Brandt, 1842 | Pallas's cat (O. manul) (Pallas, 1776) | Central Asia |
| Pardofelis Severtzov, 1858 | Marbled cat (P. marmorata) (Martin, 1836) | Southeastern Asia |
| Prionailurus Severtzov, 1858 | Leopard cat (P. bengalensis) (Kerr, 1792) Sunda leopard cat (P. javanensis) (Desmarest, 1816) Flat-headed cat (P. planiceps) (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) Fishing cat (P. viverrinus) (Bennett, 1833) Rusty-spotted cat (P. rubiginosus) (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1834) | Southeastern and Eastern Asia |
| Puma Jardine 1834 | Cougar (P. concolor) Linnaeus, 1771 | Americas |

### Extinct taxa

| Genus | Species |
| Felis | Felis lunensis |
| Acinonyx | A. aicha A. intermedius A. pardinensis |
| Lynx | L. issiodorensis L. rexroadensis L. thomasi |
| Puma | P. lacustris P. pardoides P. pumoides |
| Leopardus | L. vorohuensis |
| Leptofelis Salesa et al., 2017 | L. vallesiensis |
| Miracinonyx Adams, 1979 | M. inexpectatus M. trumani |
| Pratifelis Hibbard, 1934 | P. martini |
| Pristifelis Salesa et al., 2012 | P. attica |
| Sivapanthera Kretzoi, 1929 | S. arvernensis S. brachygnathus S. linxiaensis S. padhriensis S. pleistocaenicus S. potens |
| Sivapardus Bikr, 1969 | S. punjabiensis |
| Vishnufelis Pilgrim, 1932 | V. laticeps |

### Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships of Felinae are shown in the following cladogram: