Scientists have formally identified a tiny spotted wild cat in Bolivia as a new species, more than 100 years after the last new living wild cat species was described.
Named Leopardus tilcayo, the animal is found in the Yungas cloud forests on the eastern slopes of Bolivia’s Andes, where the mountains meet the Amazon basin. The species is known locally as the tilcayo, a name researchers retained when formally describing it.
The discovery is unusual because the animal had not been completely unknown to people living in the region. Local communities had long recognised the small spotted cat, but scientists had previously grouped it with other South American tiger cats because of its similar appearance.
The breakthrough began when Bolivian biologist and National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz encountered an unusual cat at the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary. The animal had originally been taken in by a local resident who believed it was a domestic kitten before realising that it was a wild animal.
What caught the researchers’ attention was the cat’s unusual combination of features. The animal has a slender body, rounded ears, a relatively slender tail and light-brown fur marked with irregular dark rosettes. At about 46 centimetres long and weighing roughly 1.4 kilogrammes, it is smaller than the average domestic cat.
Researchers could not establish its identity from appearance alone, so they turned to genetics. The team analysed complete genomic information from 38 cats across the Leopardus genus, including museum specimens and samples from South America.
The genetic evidence showed that the tilcayo is not simply another population of an already recognised tiger cat. Its lineage separated from other tiger cats approximately 1.4 million years ago, confirming that it represents a distinct species.
The research also changed scientists’ understanding of South America’s tiger cats. Animals previously treated as belonging to fewer groups were found to represent five genetically distinct species, demonstrating how difficult it can be to distinguish closely related small wild cats through appearance alone.
Scientists currently know very little about the tilcayo’s population or behaviour. Evidence collected so far suggests that it may be active mainly at night and feed on small rodents. Researchers have also said that only a very small number of live individuals have been documented, making further field research necessary.
The discovery has also raised conservation concerns because the Yungas forests where the species lives face pressure from deforestation, agriculture, fires and mining. Researchers have shared their findings with the International Union for Conservation of Nature as assessments of the newly recognised tiger-cat lineages continue.
For scientists, the discovery demonstrates that even in an age of advanced wildlife research, previously unrecognised species can remain hidden in remote ecosystems. In the case of the tilcayo, modern genomic technology provided the evidence needed to separate an animal that looked familiar from one that had followed its own evolutionary path for millions of years.
The findings were published in Current Biology on September 17, 2026. The researchers hope that formally recognising the tilcayo will lead to more studies of its population, behaviour and habitat, while drawing greater attention to the threatened Yungas ecosystem.