by Michael
(London, UK)
Felis bracatta
Felis bracatta is a tortoiseshell wild cat. I should say, was a wildcat because there was only one example recorded as far as I can tell and it was dead! This small wildcat, the size of a domestic cat, lived in the Brazilian jungle and look similar to the well known jaguarundi. Although judging by the image of Felis bracatta it looks like a domestic cat while the jaguarundi does not.
It is referred to in Popular Science 1897.
I have never seen this wildcat discussed in the mainstream works on wildcats.
I don't know if this is a simple mistake or whether this cat was a species of wildcat that was extinct when found - i.e. the skin belonged to the last one.
I suspect that it was a mutated South American small wild cat such as the Margay rather than a new species of cat. Scientist at that time tended to get things wrong as species were assessed on appearance. Now DNA testing is used and the number of wildcat subspecies is being reduced.
F bracatta is the Pantanal Cat, a subspecies of the Colocolo.