The Asiatic wildcat (Felis lybica ornata), also known as the Asian steppe wildcat and the Indian desert cat, is an African wildcat subspecies that occurs from the eastern Caspian Sea north to Kazakhstan, into western India, western China and southern Mongolia.[1][2]There is no information on current status or population numbers across the Asiatic wildcat's range as a whole, but populations are thought to be declining.[3][4]
Felis ornata was the scientific name used by John Edward Gray in the early 1830s as a caption to an illustration of an Indian wildcat from Thomas Hardwicke's collection.[5] In subsequent years, several naturalists described spotted wildcat zoological specimens from Asian range countries and proposed names, including the following:
In the 1940s, Reginald Innes Pocock reviewed the collection of wildcat skins and skulls in the Natural History Museum, London and subordinated all the spotted wildcat specimens to Felis lybica, arguing that size of skulls and teeth do not differ from those from African range countries.[12]
The Asiatic wildcat's fur is light sandy coloured with small rounded spots on its upper body. These spots are solid and sharply defined, and do not occur in clusters. The spots on the chest and abdomen are much larger and more blurred than on the back, and usually do not form transverse rows or stripes on the trunk. Its colours and patterns vary greatly. The hairs along the spine are usually darker, forming a dark gray, brownish or ochreous band. The upper lips and eyelids are light, pale yellow-white. The facial region is of an intense gray colour, while the top of the head is covered with a dark gray coat. In some individuals, the forehead is covered in dense clusters of brown spots. A narrow, dark brown stripe extends from the corner of the eye to the base of the ear. The lower neck, throat, neck, and the region between the forelegs are devoid of spots, or only with indistinct spots. The thighs are distinctly striped. The underside is whitish, with a light gray, creamy or pale yellow tinge. The tail is mostly the same colour as the back, with the addition of a dark and narrow stripe along the upper two-thirds of the tail; it appears thin, as the hairs are short and close-fitting. The tip of the tail is black, with two to five black transverse rings above it.[13]
The Asian wildcat has a long, tapering tail, always with a short black tip, and with spots at the base. The forehead has a pattern of four well-developed black bands. A small but pronounced tuft of hair up to one cm long grows from the tip of each ear. Paler forms of Asian wildcat live in drier areas and the darker, more heavily spotted and striped forms occur in more humid and wooded areas. The throat and ventral surfaces are whitish to light grey to cream, often with distinct white patches on the throat, chest and belly. Throughout its range the Asian wildcat's coat is usually short, but the length of the fur can vary depending on the age of the animal and the season of the year. Compared to the domestic cat, Asian wildcats have relatively longer legs. Males are generally heavier than females.[1]
In Pakistan and India, wildcats have pale sandy yellow coats, marked with small spots that tend to lie in vertical lines down the trunk and flanks.[14][15]The wildcats of Central Asia have a more greyish-yellow or reddish background color, marked distinctly with small black or red-brown spots. The spots are sometimes fused into stripes, especially in the Central Asian regions east of the Tian Shan Mountains.[16]