IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Guggisberg, C.A.W. | |
| Pampas Cat _Lynchailurus colocolo_ (Molina 1782) | |
| 1975 Book Chapter | |
Characteristics, distribution and habits of the pampas cat. Taxonomically, the pampas cat has had as checkered a career as that of the oncilla. Even though it had long been known in Argentina as the "gato pajero," the grass cat, it was first described from Chilean specimens by Molina, who recognized it as a species distinct from the kodkod. He gave the following account of the two felines: "The guigna (Felis guigna) and the colocolo (Felis colocolo) are two beautifully marked wild cats which inhabit the forests of Chile. They resemble the domestic cat, but are a little larger, the head and tail a little longer. The guigna is of a fulvous color, varied with rounded black spots, four or five lines (8-10 mm (avg. 0.4 in) in diameter, extending to the end of the tail. The colocolo is white, irregularly spotted with black and yellowish. Its tail annulated with black to the tip. In 1816, Desmarest gave the name Felis Pajeros to a pampas cat obtained south of Buenos Aires, and for a long time the species was generally known under this designation, with Molina's colocolo used only to distinguish the Chilean subspecies. Angel Cabrera, in his list of South American mammals, uses colocolo in place of pajeros. In its appearance, the pampas cat shows a marked outward resemblance to the Asiatic steppe cat, especially with the subspecies known as the Gobi cat. Its skull is short and convex, with the nasal region much compressed and the nasal bones very narrow, superiorly. The anterior upper premolar is absent. |
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