Strong evidence of mitochondrial polyphyly of the Leopardus tigrinus (Mammalia, Felidae) species complex revealed by expanded analyses of Andean populations

Over the past two decades, molecular data have revealed a complex evolutionary history for the Neotropical felid genus Leopardus. A particularly problematic subset has been the L. tigrinus complex, which has been demonstrated to comprise more than one species. Recent molecular data indicated that it is not even monophyletic, comprising distinct Leopardus lineages with a similar morphology, which likely underlies the assumption that they formed a single species. To further investigate its composition and evolutionary history, we generated mtDNA data from multiple individuals sampled in Andean regions of Colombia and Peru. The Colombian samples formed a well-supported clade that was the sister-group of the Costa Rican lineage. Remarkably, the Peruvian L. tigrinus samples formed a different clade, placed at a distinct location within the Leopardus phylogeny, as a sister-group to (L. pardalis + L. wiedii). This unexpected result extends the inference of non-monophyly of the L. tigrinus complex, and raises the possibility that additional taxonomic entities may be contained in this genus.