Scientists Name Bolivian Tilcayo Tiger Cat, First New Wild Cat Species in a Century

LA PAZ, Bolivia - An international research team has formally named a new species of wild cat from Bolivia's Yungas cloud forests, Leopardus tilcayo, describing it in the journal Current Biology as the first novel living cat species recognized by science in more than a century.

The paper, led by Jonas Lescroart of the University of Antwerp and Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz of Bolivia's Programa de Investigación de Félidos, analyzed complete genomes from 38 individuals in the Neotropical genus Leopardus, including eight museum specimens. The work concludes that the contentious "tiger cat" complex comprises five distinct species and adds a newly described Bolivian lineage that diverged from related tiger cats about 1.4 million years ago. The team also described a new subspecies of northern tiger cat from Peru's Yungas, Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo.

Nogales-Ascarrunz, a National Geographic Explorer who volunteers at the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary near Coroico, first scrutinized an unusually small spotted cat brought to the refuge after a local resident mistook it for a domestic kitten. Colleagues initially suspected a known Brazilian tiger cat, she told NBC News, but the spots and proportions did not match. Genetic work on that animal and a second Senda Verde specimen later showed they belonged to a lineage distinct enough to warrant species status. Local communities already knew the animal as the tilcayo, a traditional name the authors retained rather than inventing a new vernacular label.

Tiger cats are cryptic: nearly identical in appearance yet genetically distinct, Lescroart told Al Jazeera and Live Science. Previous taxonomic splits had reinstated or elevated named forms such as the southern tiger cat, but the Bolivian animal had never received a scientific name or formal description. "We never expected this Bolivian tiger cat to be a separate species, and no one had ever proposed it as a different animal, subspecies or otherwise," Lescroart said in Reuters coverage of the study. Live Science noted that descriptions rest on limited living individuals, including the captive type specimen at Senda Verde, sometimes called Tigrino.

Much about the species remains unknown. Researchers told Al Jazeera and NBC News they lack firm population estimates, a full range map within the Yungas, and basic natural-history details, though scat samples have suggested small rodents in the diet and camera-trap work points to nocturnal activity. Nogales-Ascarrunz is installing additional camera traps in the Yungas to document wild tilcayos. Co-author Tadeu de Oliveira of Brazil's State University of Maranhão told NBC News that tiger cats occupy habitats that are vanishing quickly under agricultural and development pressure.

Conservationists say the taxonomic revision could reshape how tiger cats are assessed on the IUCN Red List, which has treated northern and southern forms as vulnerable with decreasing populations. Splitting lineages into narrower species can leave each unit with a smaller attributed range and population, potentially elevating extinction risk rankings and sharpening protection needs. Lescroart told Live Science the discovery should increase conservation attention. Nogales-Ascarrunz framed the naming more simply to NBC News: "It's a new reason to protect the world."

Sources

1. Current Biology: Phylogenomics and museomics reveal five distinct species of tiger cats in South America (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.08.059)
2. NBC News: New wild cat species is identified for first time in 100 years (Evan Bush, 17 Sep 2026)
3. Live Science: Scientists name a new cat species for the first time in over a century (Olivia Ferrari, 17 Sep 2026)
4. Al Jazeera / Reuters: New tiger cat species identified in Bolivia, first in over a century (18 Sep 2026)
5. National Geographic Society newsroom: Photos Show New Species of Wild Cat Discovered in Bolivia (18 Sep 2026)